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FLOSSY 


1 







FLOSSY’S 

PLAY-DAYS 

By FLORENCE HOWE HALL 

Author of “ The Correct Thing in Good Society,” 
“ Social Customs,” etc. 



BOSTON ¥ DANA ESTES & 
COMPANY ¥ PUBLISHERS 






ILLUSTRATIONS 




PAGE 

Flossy .... ... Frontispiece 

“She heard a snickering behind her” . . 14-^ 

“Her skirt was all wound up in the crank” 31 
“ The neighbors at the fence ” . . . 62 z' 

“‘How DARE YOU PUT MY SISTER JULIA OUT OF 

THE ROOM ? ’ ” 91 ^ 

“Flossy exhibited her injured finger” . 116'' 

“ The board bounced up and down as they 

walked” 171 y 

“The children took turns riding him”. . 192 










FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


CHAPTER I. 

UNCLE PESOJ’S HOUSE AND THE WONDERFUL 
THINGS IT HELD 

Flossy was not at all like her name. 
Her hair to be sure was fine and soft, 
but not a bit like floss. It was parted 
in the middle and smoothed flat down 
like a curtain on each side of her face, 
when she came to breakfast or dinner. 
It did notg^stay smooth long after she 
left the table. Indeed, Fm inclined to 
think it was a good deal tumbled most 
of the time. Flossy thought it would 
be lovely to have wavy hair like Nellie 

Hammond. Nellie wore long, smooth, 
11 


12 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


shining curls, all of exactly the same 
length, six on each side, and one in the 
middle, behind. Pm afraid Flossy would 
never have had the patience to sit still 
while all those thirteen curls were 
brushed over the curling-stick, one after 
the other. 

Some of her playmates had their heads 
shingled. Would you like to know how 
this was done? First, the barber cut the 
hair off close to the head all around, then 
he took a comb and lifted up the outside 
locks. Snip-snap! went his bright scis- 
sors, as he trimmed away till the back 
of the little girl’s head looked like 
shingles on a roof — one row over the 
other. Your big brother has his hair 
cut in this way now, only nobody calls 
it “ shingling ” any more. 

Julia and Flossy never had their heads 
shingled. Mamma thought it was an 
ugly fashion. Once when they were in- 


UNCLE PESOJ'S HOUSE 


13 


vited to spend the day at Uncle Pesoj's, 
Nurse said she would do their hair in a 
beautiful new way, if they would only 
promise to sit perfectly still. It is hard 
work to keep quiet and not wriggle 
about on your chair, when some one is 
brushing, combing and pulling your hair, 
and your feet don't touch the ground. 
But the children wanted very much to 
be perfectly beautiful; so they promised. 

Flossy looked in the glass when Nurse 
had finished. There she saw two tiny 
brown braids tied with blue ribbon, one 
on each temple, most beautiful to behold! 
Julia had two little dark braids, with 
pink ribbon. Julia and Flossy were de- 
lighted. They got into the rockaway 
very carefully, in order not to tumble 
their hair; then they sat very still while 
coachman Thomas drove them from 
the lovely garden where they lived to 
Uncle Pesoj's house in Boston. The 


14 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


waitress let them in very quickly, and 
Flossy looked in the glass in the hat- 
rack. Not one hair was out of place! 
She took Julia’s hand and they climbed 
together the two flights of stairs leading 
to their aunt’s room, their white, stiff 
petticoats rustling grandly as they 
walked. Aunt Ellen kissed them, say- 
ing, Why, children, how nice you 
look ! ” Flossy began to wonder whether 
she looked as pretty as Nellie with her 
thirteen curls. 

Just then she heard a snickering be- 
hind her. It was Cousin Mary and an- 
other big girl, for Cousin Mary was six- 
teen years old, quite grown up. '' Oh, 
just look at Flossy’s pigtails! and 
Julia’s, too! I never saw anything so 
funny. Hee! hee! hee!” laughed their 
cousin, and the other big girl laughed 
too. Flossy felt very uncomfortable. 
She thought she must look beautiful, 



“SHE HEARD SNICKERING BEHIND HER 


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UNCLE PESOJ’S HOUSE 


15 


because Nurse had said so. Still, she 
did not like to be laughed at, nor to 
have her pretty little braids called pigs' 
tails. As for Julia, there were tears in 
her eyes. 

Mary, you are very unkind, and not 
at all polite to your little cousins,” said 
Aunt Ellen. Then she gave the children 
her work-box to play with, knowing that 
this would amuse them, and make them 
forget about the pigtails and Cousin 
Mary's laughter. It was the most fas- 
cinating work-box you ever saw — as 
big as the top of a small table and all 
covered over with funny figures of 
Chinese people, for it was made in China. 
When you turned the key in the lock 
and lifted the lid, a most charming and 
delicate odor greeted your nose. This 
was like sandalwood and spice and all 
things nice, mixed together. The inside 
of this wonderful box held two trays. 


16 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


all of shining black lacquer. In the top 
tray were many interesting things made 
of real ivory: a spool-rack, thimble, 
bodkin, tatting-shuttle, and little star- 
shaped silk-winders. In the lower tray 
were more curious tools. Aunt Ellen 
said Julia and Flossy might wind some 
silk for her, if they would be very careful. 
She first untied the skein, then she put 
it over the top of a queer black stand 
that looked like a closed umbrella. Aunt 
Ellen pushed something, and the top 
spread out many little wooden arms, till 
it looked like a round clothes-horse, such 
as some people have in the yard, to dry 
the wash on. The arms held the skein 
in place, while the top turned slowly 
round and round. Julia wound the silk 
off gently, on the little star-shaped piece 
of ivory. 

Flossy's turn came next; Aunt Ellen 
said she could wind either a pink or a 


UNCLE PESOJ’S HOUSE 


17 


blue skein, as she liked best. She chose 
pink, because she was quite tired of blue. 
Flossy almost always wore dresses and 
ribbons of this color, because mamma 
thought it was becoming to her. She 
made up her mind firmly, never to wear 
that color any more, after she grew up. 
But when she did grow up, a very funny 
thing happened. She found her mamma 
knew more than she did! So she wore 
blue clothes for the rest of her life, be- 
cause she found that she looked better 
in blue than in any other color. 

When Julia and Flossy had each 
wound four skeins. Aunt Ellen thanked 
them for helping her so much. In those 
days, silk did not come on spools. It 
had to be wound on ivory or wooden 
winders. After all the things had been 
carefully put away, each in its own little 
division of the work-box, Julia asked 
whether they might not play with the 


18 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


rag-bag. Aunt Ellen had a most inter- 
esting bag in which were pieces of silk 
and cloth of all colors, bits of lace and 
fringe, and odds and ends of bead trim- 
ming. 

Julia and Flossy soon had it be- 
tween them on the floor. They played 
they were going fishing. First Julia put 
her hand in, and pulled out a piece of 
bright red ribbon, just long enough to 
make a dress for her smallest china doll. 
Then Flossy took her turn at fishing. 
When she drew out a little bunch of beads 
like red coral, she was delighted. Aunt 
Ellen showed her how to string them on 
a piece of wire, and Flossy made a neck- 
lace, with a cross hanging from it, for 
her biggest doll. The name of this doll 
was Effie, as any one could tell, for it 
was embroidered in her handkerchief, 
with a single hair. The handkerchief 
was trimmed with lace. Effie was a 


UNCLE PESOJ’S HOUSE 


19 


wax doll, with real curls just like Nellie 
Hammond’s. Her dress was of white 
Swiss muslin. Mr. Charles Sumner 
bought her at the Anti-Slavery Fair, to- 
gether with a painted wooden doll, 
dressed like a nun, in black clothes. He 
gave the two dolls to mamma, for the 
children. Flossy did not like the nun 
at all — she said she must have Effie. 
Julia was not a bit selfish, so she let 
her younger sister have the prettiest doll. 
In those days the oldest usually had the 
nicest things. Flossy was more selfish 
than Julia, I am sorry to say. 

Just as she was tying the ends of the 
thread together, so that the necklace 
would not come undone, the bell rang 
for dinner. At the table the children 
were placed one on each side of Uncle 
Pesoj. When he sharpened the carving- 
knife with the steel he made a very queer 
noise with the corners of his mouth. 


20 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


something like a cat. Then he said to 
Flossy, “Did you hear that pussy?’’ 
This was Uncle Pesoj’s favorite joke. 
He always made this pussy-cat noise 
when his nieces came to dine with him. 

Julia and Flossy were much pleased 
to find there was venison for dinner. 
At each person’s place was a covered 
tin chafing-dish, with a little alcohol 
lamp beneath it. 

Uncle Pesoj helped every one to a 
piece of venison. Then all the alcohol 
lamps were lit and each person cooked 
his own meat, in his own chafing-dish, 
with the nicest gravy in the world, made 
of currant jelly. Uncle Pesoj helped 
Julia, and the waitress helped Flossy, 
so that they should not upset the chafing- 
dishes, nor set their napkins on fire. 
When the venison was done to a turn, 
you blew out the lamp, took a piece of 
the meat on your china dinner-plate. 


UNCLE PESOJ’S HOUSE 


21 


and put the cover back on the chafing- 
dish, so as to keep the rest hot. 

Cousin Mary and the other big girl . 
came to dinner, but they did not tease 
the children any more. When they all 
went up-stairs after the meal was over. 
Cousin Mary took out some funny little 
sticks and small round hoops, wound 
around with green velvet and gold braid, 
most beautiful to see. They belonged 
to a game called '' Grace,” because if 
you played it much, you would grow 
very graceful. So people said. 

You put a hoop on the two green 
sticks. Next you crossed them, like the 
letter X. Then you pulled the sticks out 
from the hoop, so that it flew across to 
the other person playing. She tried to 
catch it on her two sticks wound with 
green velvet and gold braid. If she suc- 
ceeded, she sent it flying back to you. 

It was a very elegant game, and even if 


22 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


you had thirteen ringlets, all of just the 
same size, hanging around your neck, I 
don’t think “ Grace ” would have put them 
in the least out of place. But Flossy 
thought it a very stupid play. Perhaps 
this was because she could not catch the 
hoop on her two sticks. She and Julia 
liked better to watch Cousin Mary and 
the big girl play than to try to make the 
sticks go right themselves. 

Presently Flossy peeped out of the 
window, to see if Aunt Ellen’s bottles 
were on the ledge. These were very 
funny bottles indeed, for the water was 
outside of them and not inside, as you 
might suppose. Each one was covered 
with a white flannel jacket, made to fit 
it tight all over. On the flannel was 
basted carefully a lace collar, or a strip 
of edging. Then the bottle was put into 
a yellow earthenware bowl, half-full of 
white soap-suds, and placed in the sun.' 


UNCLE PESOUS HOUSE 23 

Aunt Ellen would rub the soapy water 
gently over the lace, every now and then, 
to keep it wet. The sun did the washing 
— and the ironing, too, you see. Flossy 
wanted very much to rub her little hands 
over the bottle, but Aunt Ellen said she 
must wait till she was grown up, before 
she could wash lace. Flossy was dread- 
fully disappointed because she could not 
play with those bright, shining soap- 
suds, so Cousin Anjie asked the children 
whether they would like to see her make 
some pomatum. In those days every one 
used this on the hair, to make it lie down 
perfectly smooth. Nurse had put some 
on Julia’s and Flossy’s pigtails that very 
morning. They thought it would be 
very good fun to see how pomade was 
made, because then they could make 
some themselves. Flossy thought peach- 
tree gum would make excellent poma- 
tum, for it would stick your hair down 


24 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


so tight not a lock could stray away, or 
get into your eyes. Cousin Anjie did not 
use peach-tree gum, you may be very 
sure. She took a lump of beef marrow 
which cook had scraped out of some ox- 
bones for her, and put it in a big blue 
bowl. Then she whipped it and stirred 
it for a long time till it looked like lovely 
yellow cream, only it was much thicker 
and stiffer. Then she dropped in a few 
drops of bergamot from a tiny little bot- 
tle. This smelt almost as beautifully as 
the Chinese work-box, although it was 
a very different perfume. 

Round and round, round and round. 
Cousin Anjie stirred till you could not 
possibly see one bit of the bergamot, 
nor guess where it had gone. Then she 
took two dear little white pots shaped 
like vases. She filled each one carefully 
to the very top, smoothed it off till it 


UNCLE PESOJ’S HOUSE 


25 


was perfectly even, and put on the white 
china cover. 

“ Here, children, these are for you,'’ 
said Cousin Anjie. Julia and Flossy 
thought she was the best and kindest 
cousin in the whole world, though the 
world is a big place and there are a 
great many cousins in it. Flossy said 
she should take a dab out of her little 
white box the very next morning, but 
her cousin advised them to let Nurse, 
put on the pomatum for them, as they 
might get it on their hair in streaks. 
That would look very queer. 

All the time Cousin Anjie had been 
stirring with her big wooden spoon, 
there had been a strange tapping noise 
somewhere — rap-tap-tap ! 

''What is that noise?" asked Julia. 

" Oh, that is the ram bringing the 
water up-stairs," said their cousin. 
Flossy thought he must be a very clever 


26 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


ram; she wondered whether he carried 
the pitcher in his mouth or whether it 
were tied around his neck. She did not 
quite like to ask, lest Cousin Mary and 
the other big girl, who were in the next 
room, should hear her and laugh at her 
for asking questions. When she and 
Julia went down-stairs to get into the 
carriage and go home, she looked for 
the ram very carefully all the way down 
and in the entry below. She could not 
see him anywhere! At supper-time, she 
said to her dear papa: 

'' Papa, how does the ram at Uncle 
Pesoj’s house bring the water up-stairs? 
Does he carry a pitcher in his mouth, or 
is it hung around his neck with a 
string? ’’ 

Papa could nof help laughing a little. 
Then he said, very kindly. 

'' Dear child, you are quite right to 
ask, because the only way to find out 


UNCLE PESOJ’S HOUSE 


27 


what we do not know is by asking ques- 
tions. Your Uncle Pesoj has a machine 
for pumping the water up-stairs. It is 
called a hydraulic ram, and we will ask 
him to show it to us, and to explain to 
you how it does its work.’’ 

Flossy was very glad she had not 
asked the question where Cousin Mary 
and the other big girl could hear. She 
did not mind having her dear papa laugh 
at her mistake, for his laughter was 
sweet and kind, not scornful and teasing. 


CHAPTER 11. 


flossy’s clothes and what happened 

TO THEM 

Julia was a very sweet, gentle child, 
who loved books and reading, though she 
was fond of play, too. Often she would 
play with Flossy, running about the 
beautiful garden. At other times she 
would sit quietly in the house, reading 
a book or writing a story, while her 
younger sister climbed the trees, or 
romped with the dogs. Flossy never 
sat still a moment, if she could possibly 
help it, and her flesh was so hard, from 
constant exercise, that her dear father 
called her his Little Nugget.” When 

he gently pinched the firm little arms, 
28 


FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


29 


and repeated this pet name, Flossy was 
always pleased. She thought it much 
better to be a nugget, than to have soft, 
smooth skin, like her little sister Laura. 
Laura had pretty red cheeks, and her 
father called her “ Velvetina.’’ 

If you looked at Flossy's clothes you 
could see in a minute that she did not sit 
still much of the time. Little girls all 
wore white stockings and stiff white 
petticoats in those days. On Flossy's 
skirts and stockings you could often 
see long green streaks from the grass, 
in summer, while you could tell what 
fruit was in season by the color of the 
spots on her pinafore. She dearly loved 
to slide down the green banks of the old 
garden where she lived. You can coast 
just on yourself, without any sled, if 
you know how, and if you have a nice, 
steep, grassy bank such as there was 
under the old red cherry-tree. Flossy 


30 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


could never understand why her mother 
and Nurse objected so strongly to 
this delightful amusement. When they 
threatened to make undergarments of 
mattress ticking for her, she listened 
quite undisturbed. Why not? Doubt- 
less one could coast and climb a cherry- 
tree as well in mattress-ticking clothes 
as in any others. Indeed, she secretly 
thought a dress of that stuff would be 
better in some ways than calico and 
mousseline-de-laine. Mousseline-de-laine 
was a thin woollen stuff that went rish- 
rash, if you merely looked at it. Flossy 
knew this, for she had a blue dress, with 
shaded yellow crosses, made out of it. 
All she had to do was to go through a 
doorway, and ziziziz! There would be 
a “trap-door’’ as long as your arm! 
Then there was a dress with green, yel- 
low and red figures on it, to which some- 
thing seemed to happen every time she 



‘HER SKIRT WAS ALL WOUND UP IN THE CRANK 



FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


31 


put it on. One day she was turning a 
grindstone to sharpen a penknife, and not 
paying much attention to her gown. 
You can’t when you’re a small girl, 
turning a big grindstone, and watching 
your younger brother to see that he 
holds the knife to it right. It was a 
warm day, and Flossy grew much inter- 
ested in turning the grindstone. After 
awhile it went beautifully, spinning 
around faster and faster, while the 
sparks flew from the knife in Harry’s 
hand. It was great fun. The stone 
went so quickly it fairly carried Flossy 
around with it. All of a sudden, some- 
thing seemed to catch; then the wheel 
turned slower, slower — 

Presently it stopped! 

When she looked down to see what 
the matter was, she saw her skirt was 
all wound up in the crank — the oily 
crank that made the stone go around. 


32 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


She tried, and Harry tried to undo it. 
But the more they puffed and pulled and 
tugged, the tighter it stuck. Black 
streaks of axle-grease were all over that 
wretched gown with the red, green, and 
yellow figures. So at last the little girl 
unfastened the skirt, slipped out of it, 
and walked up to the house in her white 
petticoat. There was plenty of black oil 
on that also. She never could wear the 
dress again. Dreadful accidents like 
this had a way of happening to Flossy’s 
dresses, she never knew why. 

On her feet she wore thick leather 
boots, with a three-cornered piece of 
elastic on each side. These were called 
Congress boots, but I cannot tell you the 
reason for the name. Perhaps there 
wasn’t any reason. You slipped them on 
very quickly and easily, without any 
trouble of buttoning or lacing. They 
were made to order by two little old 


FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


33 


gray-haired shoemakers named Knott. 
The Knott brothers were Scotchmen and 
excellent workmen. They had a funny 
little neat, quiet shop, which reminded 
Flossy of a den, because it was hidden 
away behind tall houses, and you had to 
walk down queer little courts to reach 
it. When you came to the shop, you 
found the Knott brothers seated on low 
benches, sewing away for dear life, with 
pigs’ bristles for needles. They wore 
large, round silver spectacles, leather 
aprons, and striped blue and white shirts, 
with the sleeves rolled up. As for their 
coats and waistcoats, these hung on 
wooden pegs near the door. Men cannot 
sew with their coats on, for these bother 
them. 

The shop was not like any shoe store 
you ever saw, because there were no 
boxes of boots and shoes in it, no carpets, 
nor elegant mirrors. On the shelves be- 


36 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


ends, as some people call them. Con- 
gress boots are very interesting when 
they get a little old. Then the narrow 
bands of rubber poke through the cloth 
webbing, and you can pull out pieces 
to play with. 

In winter and spring, Flossy wore rub- 
ber boots. In thfe pretty green lane lead- 
ing to the garden where she lived was 
plenty of mud when the frost came out 
of the ground. Flossy loved mud. She 
wasn’t sure which she liked best, yellow, 
soft blond mud, or dark, rich, black 
clinging mud. To walk in it, and to see 
it surging over her footsteps, was a keen 
delight. You had to step rapidly through 
the yellow kind, for it was clayey and 
sticky. Flossy could do this very well, 
but the younger children, who were 
smaller and lighter, would sometimes 
stick in their tracks and could not move. 
When the bigger ones pulled them out, 


FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


37 


the treacherous boots held fast. So poor 
Harry would be dragged out in his stock- 
ing feet first. Then the rubber boots 
would be rescued afterward, and his little 
muddy toes thrust into them. In this 
way the red flannel lining of the long 
rubber boots grew to be rather dirty and 
sticky inside, and wet, too, sometimes. 
Flossy loved the water as well, or almost 
as well as the mud. When she was a 
very little girl, she went to a picnic at 
the seashore with Julia, a little friend 
named Mary Trevor, and Nurse Lizzie. 
There were lovely great clam-shells on 
the beach, with which the children 
scooped up the sand and made it into 
mounds. There were also long pieces of 
brown seaweed, shaped like a ribbon and 
fluted at the edge. These were all wet 
and shiny with the salt water, and the 
children fancied they came from a mer- 
maid’s bonnet store way, way down 


38 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


under the waves. Mary Trevor fastened 
the longest piece into her belt and ran 
about, letting it trail behind her. '' Hur- 
rah! I am an alligator, and this is my 
tail! ” said Mary. 

By and by the sun grew so hot and 
the water looked so green, clear and 
cool that the little girls begged for a 
bath. Nurse Lizzie had no bathing-dress 
for herself, yet she hated to disappoint 
the children. So she undressed them, 
and told all three to hold on tight to a 
little rock sticking up out of the water, 
around which the waves dashed and 
broke. 

Remember, dear children, not to let 
go. Hold on tight to the rock, or the 
waves will take you ofif your feet.” 

Julia and Mary did as they were bid. 
They were careful not to put their hands 
where the barnacles and conch-shells 
were, lest these should cut their fingers. 


FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


39 


Flossy held on for awhile, too. Then she 
saw a little crab walking along on the 
sand under the clear water. He didn’t 
have to hold on to a rock, yet he was 
getting along very nicely. So she threw 
up her hands and jumped up and down 
with delight, calling to the other chil- 
dren: “Just see me!” And then bang! 
swosh! a big breaker with a white cap 
on his head rushed over the rock, tum- 
bling poor, foolish, rash little Flossy head 
over heels. He was hurrying her off 
down the beach, as fast as he could go, 
filling her mouth and ears and eyes with 
water, when Nurse Lizzie rushed in and 
dragged out the coughing, sputtering, 
crying little girl. No more bathing for 
that day! Julia and Mary Trevor told 
Flossy she had spoilt their fun, but she 
said: “I only let go for just a min- 
ute.” 

“ It only takes a minute to get 


40 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

drownded/' said Julia, nodding her head 
wisely. 

Nurse Lizzie helped all the children to 
get dressed, and at last they noticed that 
her own clothes were all dripping wet. 
She wrung out her skirts as well as she 
could, and tried to get dry by walking 
up and down the beach. It was not time 
to go home till four o'clock, and when 
they all jumped into the wagon to go 
to the train. Flossy noticed that Nurse 
Lizzie's teeth were chattering and that 
she was very pale. 

Nurse Lizzie had caught a terrible cold 
saving the little girl. Julia and Flossy 
were obliged to have another nurse, and 
sometimes they would be taken to see 
poor Lizzie, whom they dearly loved, and 
who was sick in bed for many weeks at 
the house of her sister. 

When the children grew a little older, 
they went to the seaside every summer. 


FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


41 


and here they all learned to swim, each 
in a different way. Sometimes Nurse 
Matilda would go into the water with 
them, and sometimes she sat on the shore 
and watched. But she knew nothing 
about swimming herself, so she •could not 
teach the children. How long it took to 
learn! Barbara Adams came to stay 
with Julia and Flossy, and Barbara knew 
how to swim. She said she would show 
them. 

'' You just hold out your arms this 
way, and then count one, two, three 1 
When you say three, throw yourself for- 
ward into the water and strike out with 
your arms, so!’’ All the children stood 
in a line and held out their arms, just 
as Barbara said. She counted slowly, 
''One, two, three!” Splash! At three 
they all went forward into the water. 
Barbara swam off with nice, long, even 
strokes, but Julia, Flossy, and Harry 


42 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


went down flop. Harry’s nose, mouth, 
and ears were filled with salt water, 
which made him cough and sputter. The. 
ocean does not taste nicely at all, I regret 
to say. Julia and Flossy put their feet 
down on ‘the sandy bottom, after a min- 
ute. “You’ll never learn to swim if you 
put your feet down that way,” said Bar- 
bara. 

“I didn’t; they went down them- 
selves!” replied Flossy. 

When Harry had got the salt water 
out of his nose and mouth, they all stood 
in line and tried again. Barbara was 
obliged to go home to Quincy, where she 
lived, befor-e her little friends learned to 
keep up in the water. Their toes would 
go down to the sandy- bottom! After 
awhile Harry began to kick about, and 
found that by keeping his head under 
water he could swim. He had fair hair, 
and you could just see the back of his 


FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


43 


wet little head, looking like a sponge, 
as he moved along. Julia learned, too, 
but she would not put her head under 
the water, because she liked to see where 
she was going. It would not do to run 
into a porpoise or a steamboat, because 
you weren’t looking. There were por- 
poises and steamboats, too, in the waters 
of Narragansett Bay, where the children 
bathed, but as these were a mile or two 
from the shore, and as Julia and Flossy 
could swim only a few feet, there was 
not really much danger of knocking 
against a paddle-wheel or a porpoise. 

Then again, as Harry said, if you held 
your head under water, you could see a 
shark or a sea-serpent a long way off, 
and could keep out of his path. I do 
not know whether Harry ever did see 
one of these terrible creatures, but if 
he did, he never mentioned it to his 
sisters. 


44 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


The fat King Charles spaniel Ella used 
to come down to the shore with the chil- 
dren, and Julia noticed how Ella moved 
her paws in the water. She imitated the 
good doggie, and so it happened that 
Julia learned to paddle like a dog. But 
Flossy swam in the queerest way of all. 

Falling over on her back in the water 
one day, she gave a kick or two by acci- 
dent, and found that she did not sink. 
So she learned to swim on her back, and 
which of the three children looked the 
funniest, it would be hard to say. Flossy 
always thought that Harry did, because 
his head looked like a sponge, and you 
couldn’t see his face. Harry thought that 
Flossy did, because she reminded him of 
a turtle sprawling around on its back and 
trying to turn over. As for the dog Ella, 
she lay on the shore and snored horribly, 
because she had the asthma. Whenever 


FLOSSY’S CLOTHES 


45 


you tried to stop her from snoring, she 
would turn over on her back and hold 
up her paws, as if begging you not to 
punish her. 


CHAPTER III. 


hark! hark! the dogs do bark! 

Poor old Ella grew so fat and so old 
and had so much asthma that by and by 
she died. Then a friend in South Caro- 
lina sent a pretty black and tan terrier 
to papa and mamma. She was black, 
with a tan spot over each eye, a long 
pointed nose, and little pointed ears. 
Her name was Grip, and Flossy liked 
her very much. Indeed, every one 
liked pretty Grip, except cross old 
Fanny, who was a great big Newfound- 
land dog such as one seldom sees now- 
adays. Her coat was black and white, 
long and thick. Pier eyes were reddish 
where they should have been white, and 

46 


THE DOGS DO BARK 


47 


she had a way of looking up at you, out 
of the corners of them, that was not al- 
together pleasant. Fanny lived at the 
Institution for the Blind, and she was a 
good watch-dog. She was very fond of 
the steward of the institution, and wher- 
ever he went she went. Mr. Braddon, 
for that was his name, had been a ship’s 
carpenter when he was young, so he 
always walked with a rolling gait like a 
sailor, although he had never been at 
sea. He wore a seaman’s pea-jacket with 
a double row of enormous black bone 
buttons that looked like checkers. The 
pockets were lined with mattress ticking, 
for his wife found this was the only stuff 
that would wear, Mr. Braddon had so 
many heavy things to carry. He had a 
brown wig on the top of his head, that 
you could not help knowing was a wig 
half a mile off, and if you said anything 
that surprised him, he would always ex- 


48 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


claim, The dogs! You don’t say so!” 
The children loved to hear him say, 
“ Oh, the dogs ! ” and he was very good 
to them, though sometimes he was too 
busy to stop to talk much. 

One day Nurse Matilda told Flossy 
that Grip must not go out that morning, 
because Fanny was around the place and 
might hurt the little dog. Flossy was 
dreadfully disappointed. Julia was read- 
ing poetry in her room, Harry and Laura 
were playing in the nursery, and there 
was no one to romp with except the dog. 
The little girl opened the front door, 
and went out; first she walked slowly 
around the house, then down by the old- 
est strawberry bed. She couldn’t see 
Fanny anywhere, or Mr. Braddon, either. 

Nurse Matilda is an old goose! the dog 
is over at the institution!” exclaimed 
Flossy to herself. Then she skipped up 
the back stairs of all (there were three 


THE DOGS DO BARK 


49 


pairs of back stairs in that house) and 
opened the door of the room where Grip 
was shut up. The doggie was delighted 
to see her little playmate. She wagged 
her tail with all her might and main, 
jumped and capered about, as if begging 
to be let out. Flossy peeped out of the 
window — no Mr. Braddon, and no big 
dog in sight! So she slipped down-stairs 
and out of the side door, the terrier jump- 
ing upon her, and pulling her skirts in 
great glee. 

They had scampered along only a short 
distance, when Flossy saw 

A Large Black Form 

come slowly through the hedge at her 
side. Something seemed to go right 
up in her throat and catch there. Oh, 
what would become of Grip! The little 
girl was no coward. She seized Fanny by 
the big leather collar, and tugged with all 


60 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


her little might, trying to hold the great 
Newfoundland back. Grip, meanwhile, 
with a yelp of terror, fled through the 
big open doorway into the barn. Alas ! 
Fanny easily pulled herself free from 
the small hands, and rushed in after her 
prey. The poor, foolish little dog, in- 
stead of staying out-of-doors, where she 
had some chance of escape, ran under 
the carriages, her big enemy following 
close after her. Oh, what a scuffling and 
yelping there was! Flossy danced up and 
down outside the barn, in an agony of 
grief and terror for her beloved pet, 
screaming for help and wringing her 
hands. Just as she expected to see Fanny 
kill the poor little creature, who should 
rush upon the scene but 

Mr, Br addon I 

Quicker than I can tell it, although 
he was a stoutish man and not young. 


THE DOGS DO BARK 


51 


the steward dashed under the carriages 
and dragged Grip from the jaws of 
Fanny. He held her high up over his 
head, where the big ugly brute could not 
reach her. Then Flossy saw that the 
poor little dog had been wounded. But, 
oh, how good to find that she was alive! 
Grip was sick for a long time from the 
wound in her side. Many days passed 
before the terrier was well enough to 
romp with her mistress again. Flossy 
felt very badly when she saw her little 
playmate laid up, yet never complaining. 

Her papa owned another big New- 
foundland dog named Arthur, whose 
temper was not altogether sweet, al- 
though he was not so cross as Fanny. 
He never meddled with the children if 
they did not meddle with him. Julia 
once tried to take away his bone, when 
she was very young, and he gave her a 
little bite, as much as to say, Little girl. 


52 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


don’t you know you must never meddle 
with dogs when they are eating their 
dinner? ” 

Arthur had an enemy named Lion. 
He was also a big Newfoundland dog, 
but perfectly black, with curly hair. Lion 
lived over the long bridge in Boston, and 
the first time he came to the lovely gar- 
den, his master, Mr. Bones, brought him. 
Mr. Bones was a German gentleman, and 
his wife, who played a great deal on the 
piano, was German also. Flossy knew 
this to her sorrow. Julia and she had 
studied German a little, but the younger 
sister found Schiller’s play of William 
Tell ” rather tiresome. The only part 
she liked was where Tell was told by the 
tyrant Gessler to worship his hat stuck 
upon a pole. Tell, of course, refused 
proudly to bow down to a hat, and 
Flossy liked that scene. She had seen a 
picture of it once. 


THE DOGS DO BARK 


53 


When Mrs. Bones asked the little girls 
if they knew German, they replied that 
they did, remembering William Tell and 
Gessler’s hat. That was enough for Mrs. 
Bones, and she at once began to talk in 
her beloved native tongue. Oh, dear! 
Did anybody ever talk so fast before! 
Flossy could not understand a single 
word — it wasn’t a bit like William Tell. 
Every now and then Mrs. Bones would 
pause, after asking a question, and look 
at the little girl, as if expecting an an- 
swer. Flossy remembered perfectly that 
Ja ” meant yes, and '' Nein ” no, but she 
had no idea which answer was the right 
one. So sometimes she said '' Ja ” and 
sometimes Nein.” She must have said 
both twenty times, for Mrs. Bones went 
on — and on — till at last some one asked 
her to play on the piano. Flossy never 
knew what Mrs. Bones had been saying 
to her all that time, and she didn’t quite 


54 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


like to ask, though she often wondered 
about it afterward. 

It was rather hard to go to sleep when 
Mrs. Bones played the notes on the piano 
very loud. There were some nice, quiet 
places in the music, and the little girl’s 
head was nod-nodding in the corner of 
the sofa, when suddenly she heard a 
noise. 

GR-R-R-R ! BOW- WOW- WOW ! ” 

She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Mr. 
Bones and her dear father hurried out 
to see what the matter was, and found 
the gardener trying to separate Arthur 
and Lion. They were having a real fight, 
the naughty dogs ! They were so big 
and strong and angry that it took three 
men to separate them. Papa caught hold 
of Arthur’s long curly tail, and pulled 
as hard as he could; Mr. Bones grabbed 
Lion by the tail, and dragged with all 
his might and main, while John, the gar- 


THE DOGS DO BARK 


55 


dener, poured water on their noses out 
of the watering-pot to make them let go. 
Mr. Bones never brought Lion to see us 
again, but Lion often came of his own 
accord to visit Arthur. He would go 
through the crowded streets of Boston 
for two miles, cross the long bridge to 
South Boston, go past the big stone res- 
ervoir on the hill till he came to the 
pretty green lane leading to the garden. 
Down that he would trot, shove open 
the gate, and look about till he found 
Arthur. Julia and Flossy would be play- 
ing quietly in the garden when some one 
would call out, There comes Lion!’’ 
and a moment or two after the gardener 
and coachman would be at it, hammer 
and tongs, trying to separate the two 
dogs. Each one would take hold of a 
tail and pull with all his might, whipping 
Arthur and Lion at the same time to 
make them let go of each other. You 


66 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


must not think the men were cruel; it 
was necessary to separate these big New- 
foundlands, for they might have killed 
each other, they were so angry when 
they once began to fight. 

It was very exciting to stand at a dis- 
tance and watch the men and the dogs. 
We children never meddled, of course. 
It would have been dangerous to do so. 
Later we had a Lion ’’ of our own. 
He was a big black curly puppy, and 
looked like his father. But, when he 
grew up, we were told that he was “ no 
good.’’ Lion No. 2 never fought with 
Arthur, or with any one else, and Flossy 
supposed this must be the reason he was 
“ no good.” When she came to be older, 
she understood it was because he was 
not a good watch-dog. 

The gardener, who pulled Arthur by 
the tail when he fought Lion, was a very 
good friend of the children. He let them 


THE DOGS DO BARK 57 

come into the pleasant greenhouse, smell 
the hot, sweet moist air, and look at the 
flowers and fruit. Sometimes John would 
take a tiny orange no bigger than a plum 
from one of the trees, throw it up in the 
air, open his large mouth very wide, and 
pretend to catch and eat it. But the chil- 
dren knew very well the orange had not 
gone into his big mouth. If they ran 
around behind him, there was the orange 
lodged between his high turn-up collar 
and his neck. John could catch it there, 
as it came down, in the most remarkable 
way. 

When the children dropped their pen- 
nies in the cracks of the greenhouse 
floor, he always helped them to find the 
coins. One day Flossy saw her mamma’s 
rings lying on the bureau, and thought 
she would like to try them on. They 
went on very easily over the chubby little 
knuckles, and sparkled, oh, so beauti- 


68 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


fully! She thought she would like John 
to see how fine the rings looked on her 
funny little fingers. Down to the green- 
house she trotted, but John was not 
there. Flossy sat down to wait for him 
on a tin pipe in the corner, which made 
a warm, comfortable seat. It was always 
warm, because hot water ran through 
it, and just high enough for her. She 
had Beechnut,’’ one of the Franconia 
stories, under her arm; she took this out 
to read it till John should come. She 
had read the book many times before, 
but that was the pleasant thing about the 
Franconia stories. You read them not 
once, but over and over again. And the 
more you read them, the nicer they were. 
Flossy was in a hurry to finish Beech- 
nut,” because this was only the eighth 
time she’d read it, whereas Julia had fin- 
ished it nine times. She sat down and 
turned page after page, till she was so 


THE DOGS DO BARK 


59 


interested in Melville’s midnight supper 
that she forgot all about the rings. Mel- 
ville had been sick, and, growing very 
hungry in the night, went down to the 
kitchen to get some bread and butter. 
Flossy knew just how the little girl in 
the story-book felt, for she herself had 
had slow fever not long before. In those 
days it was thought best to give people 
recovering from a fever very little food. 

Flossy remembered just how the little 
saucer of hasty pudding looked, with 
milk and sugar on it, just how it tasted, 
and how she longed for more supper. 
So when the story-book described Mel- 
ville going about her mother’s kitchen 
with a candle, looking for something to 
eat. Flossy had a strong fellow feeling 
for the other little girl. Just as she was 
reading how Melville neatly put away the 
crumbs, she heard a firm step, and sprang 
up to greet John, letting all the rings 


60 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


drop ! They were much too large for 
her, and rolled over the greenhouse floor, 
the largest and handsomest falling 
through the lattice-work. 

Oh, dear! Flossy was in great distress! 
What should she do? She had lost her 
dear mamma’s best ring, all because the 
floor of that hateful greenhouse wasn’t 
tight and solid, as a floor should be. 

John was very kind. He crawled 
around on his hands and knees among 
the flower-pots, picking up the rings. 
When Flossy told him, as well as she 
could for tears and sobs, how the best 
one of all had gone through those old 
cracks, John said not to mind — that the 
floor could be taken up. His little friend 
stopped crying, and her eyes grew round 
with astonishment. Clutching the other 
rings tightly in her small grimy paw, 
black with the earth and mould from the 
pots, she sat down on the warm tin pipe 


THE DOGS DO BARK 


61 


again to watch John. It took him a long 
time to get the screw-driver and to fit it in 
the head of a screw, then turn slowly till 
each one came out. When all the six 
screws which held a piece of the floor 
were loosened, John lifted it up and 
peeped under. Flossy then saw that the 
earth was only a few feet below — and 
THERE, lying by a small stone, lay the 
missing ring! 


CHAPTER IV. 


BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 

Julia and Flossy lived in an old-fash- 
ioned rambling house, set in the midst 
of the most delightful garden in the whole 
world. The children of the neighborhood 
peeped through the bars of the yellow 
fence sometimes, and thought it must be 
paradise inside. Yet they could only see 
a little bit of the garden. They had a 
good view, to be sure, of the hill on the 
left, a most charming hill to climb, be- 
cause you went up so easily and saw such 
pleasant things by the way. You started 
by the pudding-stone, where the children 
made puddings of daisies, tansy, and rose- 
leaves all chopped up together. Then 
62 



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‘‘ THE NEIGHBORS AT THE FENCE 





BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 63 


you walked along a path rising, oh, so 
gently! On your left was a lattice-work 
fence, with peach-trees growing against 
it, their limbs spread out like a fan. 
When you reached the end of the path, 
it turned and went back across the hill, 
a little higher up. This time you had a 
row of peach-trees on your right, with 
the red-cheeked beautiful fruit hanging 
against the wooden palings. You and 
the path turned again at the farther end, 
and once more you crossed the hill, — 
the peach-trees on your left this time. A 
last turn brought you to the top. Here 
there were.no more fruit-trees, only two 
tall elms, with a pleasant seat between 
them. 

If the children peeping through the 
yellow fence looked very hard, they could 
catch a glimpse of the beehive on the 
upper terrace or walk. Flossy loved to 
watch the bees crawl in and out, and to 


64 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


smell the honey. One day she grew so 
interested that she stooped down and 
looked through the little hole through 
which the insects came. 

Oh, girls ! ’’ she called out in delight 
to her companions, “ I can smell the 
honey, oh, so strong!’’ 

Just then a large bee flew out, and 
stung the curious child right on the eye- 
lid. She howled with pain, and rushed 
into the house, where mamma soothed 
the poor eye with plantain leaves and 
mud. Mud was used to cure stings at 
that time, before people knew about 
Pond’s Extract. By and by the eye felt 
better, but, oh, dear! How the eyelid 
did swell! It swelled and swelled, till the 
poor child could not see out of that eye 
at all. She did not look like herself for 
a whole week. After that. Flossy ad- 
mired the beehive from a distance. One 
day she was playing with Mary Trevor 


BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 65 

and another little girl named Georgie 
True in a part of the garden where they 
did not often go. Presently Georgie 
caught sight of a long, queer, egg-shaped 
bunch hanging against the fence. It was 
about as large as a pineapple and the same 
color as the unpainted wood of the fence. 
Mary thought it was a hornets’ nest; 
she had seen one before in her uncle’s 
garden. Flossy said the hornets must all 
be dead, for she could not see any going 
in and out, as you could at the beehive. 
The little girls thought it would be amus- 
ing to try to knock the deserted nest 
down. They threw a large number of 
stones at it, but did not go very near. 
Georgie said she never saw such a stupid 
old nest. Why couldn’t it fall down? 
''Come, girls; let’s go up and look at 
it,” she added. But Flossy remembered 
the beehive, and told Georgie and Mary 
that it hurt dreadfully to be stung, — 


66 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


she was not going near it. There might 
be a few hornets asleep inside, who would 
come out if the children went too near, 
and sting them on the nose. By and by 
the little girls grew tired of throwing 
stones at the nest, and went away. 

Flossy's father loved the beautiful gar- 
den as well as the children did. The 
fruit-trees were his especial care, and he 
would go about among them, clipping off 
a twig or a limb or some of the fruit blos- 
soms. He explained to his children that, 
in order to have the best fruit, it was 
necessary to let only part of it ripen. 
He showed them too, how the trees, if 
left to themselves, would run all to leaves, 
and bear very few peaches. . The children 
loved to go about with him and watch 
him. When he cut the twigs off high 
up, with a pair of pruning shears on the 
end of a pole, pulling the blades with a 
string, they thought it most interesting. 


BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 67 

They liked also to see the apple-trees that 
had been grafted, with queer-looking 
places twisted around with a cloth like 
a poultice. Just as if the apple-trees had 
cut their thumbs! 

One afternoon papa was trimming his 
fruit-trees, when he heard the most dread- 
ful screams and yells. Looking up 
quickly, he saw Harry near the fence, 
dancing up and down and roaring with 
pain. Papa could not imagine what was 
the matter. The child seemed in such an 
agony, his father thought some unseen 
person must be striking him from the 
other side of the fence. Doctor Howe 
rushed up to the little fellow, and, as he 
drew near, the matter was quickly ex- 
plained. Harry had gone close to the 
hornets^ nest without knowing it, and the 
insects, enraged at the stoning they had 
received from Flossy and her friends the 
day before, flew up and stung the little 


68 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


boy fiercely. Papa caught Harry up in 
his arms, soothed and comforted the 
frightened child. Though papa was so 
strong, he was as gentle as a woman, and, 
oh, so tender when any one was hurt or 
in trouble ! Poor Harry needed many 
plantain leaves and a whole lot of mud 
to draw the pain out of all those stings! 
Papa told John, the gardener, to smoke 
out the hornets’ nest, so that the children 
should not be stung any more. 

Enjoying the beautiful fruit so much 
himself, the children’s father wanted 
other people to enjoy it, too. When 
Julia and Flossy first went to school, 
their dear father and mother invited their 
schoolmates to spend the afternoon in 
the garden, and let all the children help 
gather the strawberries for supper. Each 
little girl had a small wooden box, or a 
tin cup, to pick into. When that was 


BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 69 

filled, she emptied it into a child's ex- 
press-wagon made of unpainted wood. 

The little cart was soon full, and the 
children dragged it up to the house in 
great glee. Flossy noticed, however, that 
many of the berries were only half-ripe, 
and some had long streamers of vines 
hanging to them. The beds, too, were 
badly trampled down, for the school- 
mates were city children, and did not 
know how to pick strawberries as Julia 
and Flossy did, because they had often 
helped their dear father. After that day, 
although there were many children's par- 
ties in the garden, and much fruit was 
eaten, the young guests were never asked 
to gather it themselves. 

Tea was spread on a great long table 
in the dining-room. The little girls sat 
all around it, enjoying the berries all 
the more because they had picked these 
themselves. At the head sat Professor 


70 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


Fiester. He was so big and stout that 
one of the chairs from the bowling-alley 
— a large, strong wooden armchair — 
was set for him. He could just squeeze 
into it, much to the amusement of the 
children. It was Professor Fiester who 
taught Julia and Flossy German out of 
the William Tell book. He taught them 
a little Latin, too, but, after they had 
reached the fourth declension. Flossy 
never wanted to go any further. She 
thought “ cornu ” the most delightful 
word in the world to decline. For, as 
those of you who study Latin know, 
“ cornu ’’ does not change in the singular, 
like other nouns, but stays cornu ’’ all 
the way through. 

There were five strawberry beds in the 
garden, and Flossy was not sure which 
she liked best. She was very fond of 
the oldest of all, because it was the oldest 
of all, and because here the berries came 


BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 71 

first. It lay at the foot of one of those 
steep, grassy banks down which she 
loved to slide, and which were so bad 
for the little girl’s clothes. All around 
it was a border of old-fashioned box. On 
the first Sunday in June, the children’s 
father always came here to see if any 
berries were ripe, and you may be sure 
Flossy came too, holding by his hand. 

There was nothing very particular 
about the second strawberry bed, except 
that it grew on the side of a hill. But 
then almost everything did grow on the 
side of a hill in this garden, for it was all 
hills, sloping gently hither and thither, 
and stretching down to a little pond at 
the foot of a steep bank which separated 
that side of the garden from the road. 

Sometimes in the apple season, the chil- 
dren’s father would show them how to 
put an apple on a stick, and how to swing 
it in such a way that the fruit would fly 


72 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


away off over the yellow fence to the 
little boys standing in the road. This 
was great fun, both for the little boys 
and for Julia and Flossy. Papa tried 
too, to show the little girls how to make 
whistles out of squash stems and willow 
twigs. But papa’s whistles were so much 
better than theirs that they preferred to 
have him do the work, while they played 
with the squash flowers. The third 
strawberry bed, I had almost forgotten 
to say, ran in a narrow double border or 
stripe down the hill, and bore dark red 
fruit that ripened late in the season. The 
fourth bed had very large berries with 
two or three points, while the fifth bore 
the little Alpine strawberries that came 
last of all. 

Flossy was always sorry to have 
strawberries go, although they do tire 
your back terribly when you stoop over 
to pick them. The red and white rasp- 


BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 73 

berries were very nice, only they had 
thorns and mosquitoes. The blackberries 
had the worst thorns, however, and, if 
you weren't very careful, they would 
scratch you horridly when you plucked 
them, in a really vicious way. 

Much as the children loved the fruit, 
they loved the flowers almost as well. 
There was the monk's hood, or, as some 
people called it, the devil's chariot, a 
most curious and interesting flower. You 
pulled back the hood-shaped piece at the 
top, and there sprung into sight two 
long, slender stems like thread, with pur- 
ple crested heads, — the horses of the 
mysterious chariot. Flossy was always 
a little afraid of this flower, partly be- 
cause of its wicked name, partly because 
some one had told her it was poisonous. 

She loved the bluebell and the harebell, 
as she had read about them in fairy- 
stories. She was always secretly look- 


74 FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 

ing, however, for a flower bell that 
should really ring, like those in books. 
She and Julia played a great deal with 
the old-fashioned red peonies. They 
loved to pull these apart, and to stroke 
the red, shining leaves, smooth like 
satin. The little glossy seed-vessels of 
the tiger-lily were also delightful to 
gather. They reminded one of whortle- 
berries, only they were not good to eat. 
The season of the lilacs was one of de- 
light, — first came the ordinary kind, 
then the lovely white ones, last the Per- 
sian lilac with its broad, deep petals. Oh, 
how sad it was when the full bunches 
of tiny flowers that had so long delighted 
us began to turn brown, then browner, 
until all withered away! 

The children loved the wild flowers, 
too; they pulled these to pieces as much 
as they pleased, for there were always 
plenty more growing in the grass. The 


BEHIND THE YELLOW FENCE 75 

golden-eyed tansy made such a savory, 
sharp-smelling mess when well chopped 
upon the pudding-stone. The leaves of 
the wild sorrel, with their singular shape, 
Julia and Flossy knew were good to eat, 
for had not their dear father lived on 
mountain sorrel and wasps when he was 
a soldier in Greece, helping the Greeks 
to get their freedom? The children 
would chew a little of it, — but only a 
little. How very sour it was, and how 
could poor papa have lived on such hor- 
rible food! Sometimes, when Julia or 
Flossy found fault with the beefsteak, 
papa would say: ''My dear children, if 
you had been obliged to live on donkey^s 
meat and sorrel, without any bread, you 
would be very thankful for the good food 
set before you.’’ Donkey’s flesh is very 
tough and hard, you must know. 

The wild snappers were the most inter- 
esting of all. You gathered the edges of 


76 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


the tiny bell tightly in your fingers, then 
struck it on the other hand, when it burst 
with a pop ’’ like a paper bag. Or 
sometimes you turned the flower inside 
out, when, wonderful to behold, there 
was a little lady in gray Quaker dress, 
scalloped at the bottom. She had a 
funny, round, green head, — that was the 
seed-vessel of the snapper. I fear she 
had no waist — but one cannot expect 
to have everything perfect in this world. 


CHAPTER V. 


WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 

The house in which Julia and Flossy 
lived was made up of an Old Part and 
a New Part. The Old Part had been 
built for more than a hundred years, a 
hundred and fifty, some people said. It 
had many queer nooks and crannies, and 
the doors had curious old-fashioned brass 
door-knobs. Flossy remembered them 
all her life, because of an unfortunate 
accident that happened to her. A dis- 
tinguished English gentleman, an author, 
once spent the night at the house, and 
was given the housekeeper’s room, as 
no other was vacant. Mrs. Saunders 
slept in the nursery for the time being, 
77 


78 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


and the little girls were told to come 
there in the morning to have their hair 
brushed, and not to go to Mrs. Saun- 
ders’s own room, as was their custom. 
But Flossy forgot all about this warning. 
On the following day, when she had 
dressed herself, and was all ready to have 
her hair arranged, she went to the door 
of the room where the housekeeper usu- 
ally slept, turned the brass handle with 
some effort, and looked in. 

Red Riding Hood was not more sur- 
prised to see her grandmother turned 
into a wolf than was Flossy at the change 
which had suddenly come over the house- 
keeper. Mrs. Saunders was a young 
woman, with black eyes and hair. When 
some one poked a head out of the bed- 
clothes and asked the child what she 
wanted, she made no answer but stood 
stock-still with astonishment. Why, 
Mrs. Saunders has grown bald and gray 


WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 79 

in one single night/’ she said to herself. 
She had heard stories of Marie Antoi- 
nette and other distinguished people 
whose hair had suddenly turned white. 

Then, in a moment, she remembered 
it must be the English gentleman who 
was expected for the night. Flossy 
rushed away, quite horrified at having 
made such a mistake, and left the door 
wide open, I am sorry to say. She did 
not mention to any one her blunder in 
going to the wrong door, and hoped she 
should hear nothing more of it. When 
she came down to breakfast, there sat 
Mr. C. with her father and mother. He 
looked up and said, rather cruelly Flossy 
thought: “I think that I have seen this 
young lady before this morning.” Mr. C. 
had no little girls of his own, for he was 
a bachelor. He did not know that chil- 
dren forget sometimes, and do things 
that seem naughty without really intend- 


80 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


ing to. But that is the reason Flossy 
has always remembered the brass knobs 
on the doors of the bedrooms in the Old 
Part! 

There was a most fascinating little 
entry in this part of the house. It could 
not have been more than eight feet long, 
by four feet wide, and on each side of 
this entry there was a door. The floor 
was covered with oilcloth and in the 
middle was a round, old-fashioned regis- 
ter. This was directly over a small fur- 
nace in the cellar, so that, when you 
opened it, you could see the hot coals 
below. The children thought it a most 
interesting game to shut all the doors 
and open this register. Of course the 
entry was then perfectly dark, save that, 
if you looked, you could see the furnace 
beneath, like a great red eye. No better 
place can be imagined for playing Daniel 
in the lions’ den than this little hallway. 


WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 


81 


The children’s parents did not approve 
of it, however, and when Julia and 
Flossy had the doors all nicely shut, 
some one was sure to come along and 
open them. I am sorry to say that things 
sometimes fell down this register, and 
were instantly burnt up by the hot coals. 
How Harry happened to drop an um- 
brella down, I cannot say, but I know 
that the whalebone of the ribs made a 
very unpleasant smell when the flames 
consumed them. And there was a dear 
German book — not William Tell, but 
a little green volume with lovely pic- 
tures of lemons and other articles of 
every-day use. It gave the names of all 
these things in German, and in English, 
too, I think. Alas! The greedy furnace 
made short work with the little green 
book. 

In the kitchen was a pump, with a long 
iron handle. Flossy remembers that very 


82 


FLOSSY^S PLAY-DAYS 


well, too, on account of another accident 
which befell her, although this time no 
one else was troubled. The little girl 
went into the kitchen one afternoon when 
all the servants were away. There were 
some nice red apples on the table, and 
some green and red peppers, also. Flossy 
did not care for peppers, but she found 
a knife in the drawer, peeled an apple, 
cut it into quarters, and took a bite. Oh, 
dear! What a strange fiery taste that 
apple had! She looked at the pieces and 
at the parings, — yes, it was certainly 
an apple, but it must have touched the 
peppers, for it tasted red-hot. Poor 
Flossy’s mouth burned and burned. She 
got up on a chair, grasped the handle 
of the pump, and pumped away for dear 
life. Flossy drank and drank, but it was 
of no use. The peppery taste remained 
in her mouth all the morning. After 
that day, she was very careful how she 


WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 


83 


meddled with anything in the kitchen 
when cook was away. Cook had many 
interesting things that the children loved 
to look at. There was a queer little 
machine, like a lemon squeezer, save that 
it had little square holes shaped like dice. 
You put carrots and turnips in this, gave 
it a squeeze, and they came out in the 
nicest little even pieces, all ready for 
soup. Then there was a large tin thing, 
shaped like a half-cylinder, with four 
legs. It was called a tin kitchen or 
Dutch oven, and in the middle of it was 
a long iron rod or spit. When cook 
wanted to roast a turkey or a little pig, 
she put him on the spit in the tin kitchen, 
and placed the whole in front of the 
range fire, where it cooked slowly, 
slowly, cook turning the spit to brown 
the other side. 

For Mondays, there was a short, stout 
copper boiler, and the gardener made a 


84 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


fire under this, on washing day, so that 
the clothes might be boiled in it, after 
they had been washed in the blue wooden 
tubs with iron hoops. These were placed 
on benches outside the kitchen door in 
warm weather, so that the washing was 
done out-of-doors. Over the kitchen was 
the nursery, where Harry and Laura 
slept in a trundle-bed, when they were 
very little. Part of the nursery was par- 
titioned off to make a second bathroom, 
where the children took cold baths in the 
morning, drying themselves on linen 
sheets, which wrapped one up very com- 
fortably. In this bathroom was a tall, 
high copper boiler that held hot water 
to put in the baths, for these must not 
be stone-cold. One day the children’s 
uncle, who was making a visit at the 
house, wanted very much to take a hot 
bath, as he had become chilled. The 
water would not run from the faucet. 


WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 85 

SO Uncle James told his wife he thought 
he would get into the boiler, for the 
water in it was not very hot. And 
how, my dear, will you get out again?’’ 
said she. “ Oh, I could swing myself 
up by my arms,” said Uncle James. 
Aunt Anna begged him so hard not to 
try it, lest he should get stuck in the 
big copper boiler, that he consented to 
take a lamp-bath instead. This was not 
what we should call a bath at all, for the 
person taking it was all rolled up in 
blankets, and sat in a chair, with a lamp 
underneath, till he grew so warm, so very 
warm, that his cold all melted away and 
flew up the chimney! Just beyond the 
nursery and bathroom was a short flight 
of three steps, joining the New Part to the 
Old. Flossy always ran up these, as in- 
deed she did up any stairs. If you always 
run up-stairs, you are apt to tumble and 
bump your knees. Flossy’s knees always 


86 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


had black and blue spots on them, except 
where the skin was off, but she thought 
that was the natural condition of a little 
girl’s knees. One day, as she was run- 
ning up the three steps from the bath- 
room, she tripped and fell, not on her 
unlucky knees, but on her front teeth. 
Fortunately they were not broken; one 
was slightly cracked. Her mamma was 
very, very particular about the children’s 
teeth; she gave her daughter a very seri- 
ous talk on the subject of running up- 
stairs. Flossy thought mamma was 
rather unreasonable. One couldn’t help 
those things — they just happened. She 
remembered very well the day Carrie 
Graham broke the corners off her front 
teeth on an iron railing near the school- 
house in recess. Carrie put her hand up 
to her mouth to see what had happened 
— and when she took it down, there, on 
her brown mitten, were two little white 


WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 


87 


triangles! Yet the dentist had made it 
all right by pressing the teeth down 
from the gums gradually, and then 
filing off the broken edges. 

The New Part had three stories and 
was much higher than the Old Part, 
which had only two, and low ceilings be- 
sides. As the kitchen was in the Old 
Part, there was much trouble in making 
the chimney draw well, till at last the 
masons came and built it up higher. 
Then they put an iron chimney-pot on 
top, and cook said the mutton roasted 
just beautifully! That night, before the 
mortar had had time to harden thor- 
oughly between the bricks, there came up, 
oh! such a strong wind from the sea. 
It blew great guns, as the sailors say. 
Papa felt anxious about the new chim- 
ney. Harry and Laura, who were sound 
asleep in their little beds, were taken up, 
warmly wrapped, and put to sleep in an- 


88 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


other room. And still the wind blew in 
great gusts, striking the house savagely, 
as if wanting to tear it down. By and by 
there came a crash! Over went the new 
chimney, the bricks and mortar falling 
through the roof and ceiling into the 
nursery, and on to the children's beds! 
Only Harry and Laura were not there! 
They were so fast asleep that they 
knew nothing of the accident till they 
waked up in the morning, and were much 
surprised to find themselves in another 
room. When the storm was all over, the 
chimney was put up again, and stayed 
with rods of iron, so that it never fell 
down any more. 

The New Part was not half so inter- 
esting as the Old, for it was built just 
like any other house. It had a delight- 
ful attic, however, where were many queer 
things, and a room for pigeons. High 
up on the house outside, you could see 


WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 


89 


a little wheel-shaped window. That was 
where the pigeons came in and out. The 
New Part had a front door leading out 
on a piazza where grew prairie roses over 
a trellis. They had no perfume, like the 
other roses of the garden, but they bore 
a great abundance of flowers. 

The Old Part had a door that was 
much more interesting. Over the top 
was a fan-light, a window shaped like a 
fan, that is to say, and when you stepped 
out over the threshold, you found your- 
self on a little old-fashioned porch, with 
seats on each side, and an arbor with 
grapes overhead. Under your feet was 
a broad slab of granite, or door-stone, 
and a narrow granite border to match 
went across the front of the house, and 
kept in place a small strip of flower bed, 
which thus blossomed directly under the 
windows. Choice flowers grew here, and 
amongst others a pink moss-rose. The 


90 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


children knew that they must not 
pick the blossoms from this particular 
rose-tree without leave. How shocked 
they felt to see Lewis Henderson pick 
one of these buds and put it in the but- 
tonhole of his coat! He was a young 
man who was under their father's care; 
he was not very bright, although he was 
good and kind. Lewis had been brought 
up in the South, and was almost always 
very, very polite. He broke one rule of 
good manners, however; if anything 
funny came into his head, he would laugh 
quite loud without telling other people 
why he did so. Lewis was rebuked for 
this bad habit very often. A teacher was 
employed for him named Mr. Stevenson. 
Julia and Flossy would sometimes come 
into the schoolroom and interrupt the 
studies, so one morning Mr. Stevenson 
led Julia out. Flossy was very indignant. 
She thought the teacher had been rude 



“ ‘ HOW DARE YOU PUT MY SISTER JULIA OUT OF THE 

ROOM ? ’ ” 




-«r! 









WHEN THE WIND BLOWS 


91 


to her sister and had interfered with 
Julia’s freedom. She called Harry and 
Laura and talked it over with them, till 
they, too, felt very angry. The children 
each took a log of wood from the wood- 
box, shouldered it like a gun, and 
marched to the door of the schoolroom. 
'' Rap-tap-tap ! ” went Harry, who was 
the most courageous, as the man of the 
party, though he still wore dresses. Mr. 
Stevenson opened the door and looked 
out. 

'' How dare you put my sister Julia 
out of the room?” said Harry, sturdily. 
All three children looked very severely 
at the teacher, and held tightly on to 
their logs of wood. I wonder Mr. Ste- 
venson did not laugh, for they must have 
made a funny little group. He did not, 
however. He merely said, Run away, 
children,” and so ended Flossy’s rebellion 
against Mr. Stevenson. I think Julia’s 


92 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


feelings must have been hurt, for she 
took no part in the procession. Julia was 
less warlike than Flossy. 

When cold weather came, seaweed was 
brought in carts, and packed against the 
house all the way around. This was to 
keep the cold out of the cellar. 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE FROG MINUET AND OTHER DANCES 

Julia and Flossy were taken to the 
theatre sometimes, and this they enjoyed 
very much. The first play they ever saw 
was '' Cinderella '' at the Boston Mu- 
seum. Cinderella wore a plain brown 
dress, as she sat at home in the ashes. 
You all remember how badly her sisters 
treated her in the story, and how the 
Fairy Godmother helped her. The Her- 
ald, with his big silver trumpet, had 
brought the glass slipper to the house, 
and Cinderella was just going to put it 
on, when Nurse said it was time for Julia 
and Flossy to go home to supper. They 
were dreadfully disappointed! They had 
93 


94 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


set their hearts on seeing the fairy enter, 
wave her wand, and make the magic 
change in Cinderella’s dress, to say noth- 
ing of turning the pumpkin into a coach, 
the lizards into footmen, and the rat into 
the coachman. But Nurse would not 
wait, so the children were obliged to 
leave the theatre. Afterward they often 
acted the play themselves at home. They 
had tiers just alike, each little girl had 
a purple one and a yellow one. When 
they acted “ Cinderella,” Flossy would 
unbutton Julia’s tier, slip it off, and put 
on the yellow one. This represented the 
magic change from Cinderella’s old 
brown dress to the robes of the princess. 
As the tiers fastened up behind, Julia 
could not help much, and the wonderful 
transformation was rather slow. 

When the children grew older, they 
took part in a play called '' Silverhair 
and the Three Bears.” Their dear father 


THE FROG MINUET 


95 


was the biggest bear of all. He wore 
on his head a great coal-scuttle felt bon- 
net, such as you see at Old Folks’ Con- 
certs. Only he wore it wrong side be- 
fore, so that you could not see his face. 
Holes for eyes were made in the crown 
of the bonnet, and a red flannel tongue 
was fastened on. Julia and Laura were 
the two other bears, and they wore 
smaller bonnets arranged in the same 
fashion. 

Flossy was little Silverhair, because 
she was the most mischievous and the 
quickest in her movements. She wore 
a silvery wig and a pink dress. When 
she came out on the stage, and saw the 
audience, — all the little boys and girls 
of her acquaintance, — she felt, not ex- 
actly frightened, but rather queer, and 
her voice sounded very faint in her own 
ears. After she had sat in all the three 
chairs, and tasted of all the bowls of por- 


96 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


ridge, she curled herself up in the little 
iron bedstead which Harry had used on 
board ship, and pretended to go to sleep 
like the little girl in the story. Then all 
the bears came in, and just as they were 
going to punish naughty little Silverhair, 
as she richly deserved, she hopped out of 
bed and flew across the stage. Here she 
climbed up on a chair and jumped out 
of a real window. The window had been 
fastened in the middle of a pasteboard 
screen, and when Flossy jumped up on 
the sill, Mr. Braddon, who was on the 
other side, where the audience could not 
see him, helped her through, so that she 
did not fall. The pasteboard screen 
shook a good deal, and the make-believe 
Silverhair was very glad to have the good 
‘‘ Braddy,'’ as the children called him, 
help her through. 

Julia and Flossy were sometimes taken 
to the opera, and this they thought per- 


THE FROG MINUET 


97 


fectly delightful. Flossy thought every- 
thing the prima donna did was most 
romantic and wonderful. Once she went 
to see the opera of Norma/^ and, on 
her return, she described it all to Martha, 
and acted out the scenes and sang all 
the songs she could remember. “Norma” 
was a very popular opera then, although 
it was beginning to go out of fashion. 
All the hand-organs played “ Hear me, 
Norma,” and other tunes from it, so that 
they were very familiar. 

Martha was a little colored girl whom 
the children’s father had rescued from 
slavery. Her mistress had brought her 
from the South to Boston, and, according 
to the law, a slave who had been carried 
by his master to a free State became free. 
Doctor Howe went to court, and the 
judge decided that Martha need not re- 
turn to the South and to slavery unless 
she wished. You may be very sure she 


98 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


did not wish to do so, and she stayed 
in Boston. She played with Flossy some- 
times, and they were very good friends. 
Martha had never been to the opera, 
and when the other little girl recited 
‘‘ Hear me, Norma,'’ and spread her arms 
out very wide, as the prima donnas do, 
the colored child thought it very ridic- 
ulous. So she spread out her own black 
arms and squawked as loud as she could, 
in imitation of her playfellow. That's 
the way you go. Flossy, and I think it's 
awfully silly," said Martha. Flossy did 
not play opera any more. She thought 
Martha was terribly stupid and not a bit 
romantic. 

But then, the colored child had not 
seen the prima donna, she had only seen 
Flossy, — a very different thing. 

The Howe children were taken also 
to see the Ravelle Brothers, who acted 
in the most wonderful pantomime. One 


THE FROG MINUET 


99 


took the part of Jocko, the faithful ape, 
— and surely no man ever imitated a 
monkey so perfectly. When Jocko died 
for his master, in the last act, Julia and 
Flossy felt very, very sorry for the good 
faithful animal. They trembled a little 
when Blondin, the famous tight-rope 
dancer, pushed his little boy before him 
in a wheelbarrow, along a rope stretched 
from the top gallery of the theatre to 
the stage. The Frenchman seemed per- 
fectly unmoved, but it was whispered the 
little boy was afraid. He sometimes took 
his little girl instead, and people said 
she did not fear the trip through mid- 
air so much as her brother. 

I suppose Blondin was the most re- 
markable tight-rope dancer that ever 
lived. Our dear father saw him cross 
Niagara Falls on a rope eighty or one 
hundred feet high. He told us that 
Blondin seemed more like a monkey than 
LOfC. 


100 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


a man, and appeared so perfectly sure 
of himself, and so free from fear, that 
it was not painful to watch him. This 
wonderful Frenchman had a little stove 
which he balanced on the rope. Then 
he cooked griddle cakes, and threw them 
down on the deck of the steamboat in 
the river below. They must have been 
rather broken up, one would think, after 
such a fall, and I do not believe the pas- 
sengers on the steamboat ate them, 
though I am not sure about that. Blon- 
din cooked omelets, too, but I think he 
ate those himself up in the air. 

Children who had seen the Ravelles 
and Blondin naturally tried to imitate 
them, although our parents would not 
allow us to try these feats on a tight 
rope. Emily Runkle, a very graceful 
child, used to go through wonderful per- 
formances' on the foot-board of her bed- 
stead. Her mother invited a number of 


THE FROG MINUET 


101 


friends to see Emily dance. One lady 
wore diamonds and a corn-colored ba- 
rege dress. This was thought to be such 
a gay and giddy costume in the quaint 
old Boston of those days that people 
talked about it, and said how strange it 
was that any one should wear so fine and 
handsome a toilet on such an occasion. 

Just outside the gate of the beautiful 
garden was a fence which ran along the 
side of Bird Lane under the poplar-trees. 
It was made of three rows of boards 
placed edgewise and nailed to a number 
of posts standing six or eight feet apart. 
The top of this fence was four or five 
feet high and less than an inch wide. 
Flossy, Mary Trevor, and their little 
friends found this fence made a very 
good imitation of a tight rope. 

You climbed up on the fence very 
easily, and took your stand on the first 
post. Then you stretched out your arms 


102 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


to steady yourself, and walked slowly 
and cautiously, or quickly, according to 
your taste, till you reached the next post. 
Here was firm footing again, on which 
you could rest a little before starting 
across the next piece of fence. Over and 
over again the children tried it, for they 
tumbled off before they had gone very 
far. The wisest way was to jump off 
when you found you were losing your 
balance. Gradually they learned to walk 
farther and farther, but no one ever 
reached the end of the lane except Sue 
Peterson. She was a tall, thin, lanky 
girl, who wore a straw Shaker bonnet 
and a black dress, as she had lost her 
mother. She could take tremendously 
long steps, she was so tall. How sur- 
prised Flossy and Mary Trevor were 
when they saw her walk to the very end 
of the lane, turn the corner, and go on 
up the hill as far as the fence went. She 


THE FROG MINUET 


103 


never once tumbled off, for, according 
to the rules of the play, v^hen you fell 
or jumped off, you had to go back to the 
first post again. That was the reason 
the children never reached the corner of 
the lane. Somehow, after Sue Peterson 
had done the feat so easily, it seemed 
to lose its interest for the other children. 
Then Mary Trevor fell off and hurt her- 
self, and her mother forbade her walking 
on the fence any more. 

Flossy loved to dance in the house, too. 
Once she saw a little girl of her own 
age go through a Spanish dance, called 
the '' Cachucha.’’ She had wooden clap- 
pers in her hands, which she clicked to- 
gether in time to the music. She wore 
long curls and a yellow dress with pink 
roses on it. Flossy thought there could 
be nothing more delightful than to wear 
long curls and go through the cachucha 
like this beautiful child. 


104 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


Next day she saw the little dancer 
again. Alas! her face was all freckles, 
her hair was out of curl, and the yel- 
low dress had been changed for more 
sober attire. Nevertheless, after this 
time. Flossy often danced the cachucha 
at home, and invented many fancy 
dances herself. Their dear mother 
played most wonderful tunes — airs from 
the operas — for the children to dance. 
The great masters who wrote these tunes 
put a great deal of meaning into them. 
When they made songs about war, the 
music was like the sound of the trumpet, 
and you fancied you could hear the 
tramp of soldiers. When they wrote 
about lovers’ sighs, the notes were, oh, 
so soft and gentle! Flossy did not care 
much for poetry, like Julia and Laura, 
but she loved music. Her very soul 
stirred within her when mamma played 


THE FROG MINUET 


105 


those wonderful tunes at the twilight 
time, — the children’s hour. 

“Guerra, guerra,” “War, war,” sang 
the old Druid priests, in their white robes 
garlanded with green. As the dear moth- 
er’s fingers struck the keys of the piano 
sharply, bringing out the stirring strains 
of this famous chorus. Flossy sprang to 
her feet and seized a paper-knife. All 
the other children fell in behind her, and 
they danced and marched, with sparkling 
eyes and bright red cheeks. Then fol- 
lowed gentler, sweeter airs, and soft, 
waving movements took the place of the 
fierce war-dance. 

When papa came in, and there were 
enough to form a circle, all joined hands 
and danced around, singing this old 
song: 

“ Ringa, ringa rounder, Daddy caught a flounder, 
Put it in a frying pan 
And fried it for his supper.” 


106 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


When we had finished singing this song, 
supper was ready, really and truly, and 
we all marched into the dining-room. 
The Fisher's Hornpipe was a decidedly 
comic dance, especially when you took 
hold of your little brother's feet, and he 
made a wheelbarrow of himself by walk- 
ing on his hands. Julia invented another 
comic dance, called The Frog Minuet." 
This was not very good for your clothes. 
You went down on your hands and 
knees, and lifted up first a foot and then 
a hand in time to the music. I have 
really never seen a frog who moved in 
this way. Frogs usually hop very fast 
and far, as we know, whereas in the 
Frog Minuet you never got ahead at all, 
but stayed perfectly still in one spot. I 
cannot recommend this minuet either as 
truly frog-like or as exciting. However, 
it was restful after the fierce war-dance 
or the rapid, gliding motions of the hunt. 


THE FROG MINUET 


107 


When Flossy went to New York with 
her mother to visit her Great-uncle John, 
he was very anxious to see the little girl 
perform some of these stirring dances. 
He told her he would give her a silver 
half-dollar if she would dance for him. 
Flossy wanted the fifty cents very much. 
It seemed a very large sum to her, and 
she loved to dance at home with the 
other children. In Uncle John's parlor 
everything was different. Every one was 
very quiet ; even the little dog Pinky 
lay still by the fire, and never even 
barked unless she wanted to beg for a bit 
of meat. 

Mamma thought Flossy should cer- 
tainly dance if Uncle John wished it. 
Flossy thought so, too, since a half-dollar 
was to be the reward. But the more she 
thought, the harder she found it to begin. 
By and by mamma and Uncle John 
talked of something else. Flossy never 


108 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


danced for Uncle John, and she never 
received that fifty cents. Her good, kind 
old uncle made her many nice presents 
in after years. But that silver half-dollar 
shines through the memory of past days 
as a bright and beautiful prize which 
she might have had, had she dared to get 
up and dance all alone by herself in that 
quiet parlor, with dog Pinky lying blink- 
ing by the coal fire, and Uncle John 
smoking in his leather armchair, or bal- 
ancing his cigar on the point of his pen- 
knife, while he blew the smoke up to the 
ceiling in little soft white rings. 


chaptj:r vii. 

THE OLD STAGE AND ITS PASSENGERS 

When Julia was nine and a half years 
old and Flossy eight, their parents de- 
cided to send them to Miss Stenson\s 
school in Boston. There were no trolley- 
cars in that day, nor even horse-cars. 
The children took the eight o'clock om- 
nibus every morning; if they missed that, 
they were obliged to wait half an hour 
for the next one. This was a bad thing, 
for it made them late at school. The 
omnibuses were great, heavy, lumbering 
vehicles drawn by two horses, while the 
driver's seat was high up on top. The 
older coaches were yellow with dark 
trimmings; the newer ones were white 

109 


110 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

with red letters on the outside. Julia 
and Flossy thought the white omnibuses 
quite beautiful. Inside there were pic- 
tures painted above the windows, which 
were amusing to look at. One set of 
pictures showed hunters with their guns 
and dogs, and the adventures that befell 
them. As the ’bus ” went very slowly, 
taking a long time to go from South 
Boston to Boston, — a distance of two 
miles, — the children had plenty of lei- 
sure to study these pictures, in spite of 
the jolts and bumps which took off their 
attention. The pavements made of round 
cobblestones were very solid, I fancy, but 
not at all smooth. In front of the stage, 
just under the driver’s seat, was a little 
cubby-hole, holding a camphene lamp 
made of tin, with two little burners stick- 
ing up like horns, and two little extin- 
guishers on top of them like dolls’ thim- 
bles. 


THE OLD STAGE 


111 


Julia and Flossy were rather afraid 
of these lamps, even in the daytime. In 
the office of the Institution for the Blind 
was a clerk, a young widow, who always 
wore a black kid glove on her left hand. 
The children knew this was to cover up 
the scars made by deep burns. On Mrs. 
Ransom’s neck were white marks where 
the cruel teeth of flames had bitten her, 
— flames caused by the upsetting of a 
camphene lamp. Hence Julia and Flossy 
preferred those they had at home, which 
burned sperm-oil made from the fat of 
great whales. The hand lamps had no 
chimneys, and gave only a feeble, twin- 
kling light from two funny little wicks. 
If you wanted to make them burn 
brighter, you picked these wicks up as 
well as you could with a pin. 

The cubby-hole in the omnibus, where 
the camphene lamp was, had a glass door 
on the inside toward the passengers, and 


112 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

on the other side a black transparency 
on which were the white letters, 
HTUOS NOTSOB/’ Julia and Flossy 
often wondered what ‘'HTUOS NOT- 
SOB ’’ meant. One day they looked at 
the transparency from the outside, and 
saw that it read there “SOUTH BOS- 
TON.” Then the mystery was explained. 

On the floor of the omnibus there was 
always straw in winter. A strong leather 
strap was fastened to the door and along 
the inside of the roof, passing through 
a little hole to the outside. Here it went 
over the driver’s seat and down to the 
dashboard, where he held it firmly in 
place with his foot, keeping the door shut 
tight. If you wanted to stop the omni- 
bus, you jumped up and pulled at this 
strap with all your might and main, if 
you were tall enough to reach it. If you 
were not, you tried to attract the dri- 
ver’s attention by dragging at the door, 


THE OLD STAGE 


113 


or you asked some big man to pull the 
strap for you. It was rather sad to have 
all the other passengers get out before 
you did, because then there was no one 
to reach the high strap. It was pleasant 
to be alone in the stage for some reasons. 
You could jump about on the seats and 
play in the straw, and nobody minded 
unless the driver looked down' through 
the hole and saw you. You could also 
kneel on the red velvet cushions and look 
out of the window without danger of 
rubbing your muddy shoes against the 
knees of the passengers. Or you could 
sit in the corner by the door, where you 
had the best view out of the back of the 
stage. One day Julia and Flossy were 
riding in the omnibus after every one 
else had got out except one young 
woman. Flossy had her favorite seat in 
the corner, and was so much interested 
in looking out that she carelessly put her 


114 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


finger in the crack of the door. The 
driver pulled it to sharply ’with his foot, 
and the poor child’s forefinger received 
a terrible pinch. When she looked down 
and saw how much it was hurt, she cried 
and felt very badly; so did Julia. But the 
young woman opposite, although she 
was grown up, said nothing to the chil- 
dren, and did nothing to comfort them 
in their distress. Perhaps she was deaf 
and dumb! Fortunately, they were near 
their home, and rushed at once up to 
see their mother. Their father must have 
been away, for mamma had the horse put 
in the carriage at once, and took the child 
to see Doctor Bigelow. He was one of 
the best surgeons in Boston, and it was 
amusing to go to his office, because he 
had a mina bird, which talked and 
laughed like a person. Flossy heard 
some one call out, Doctor Bigelow, 
Doctor Bigelow! Arms and noses! 


THE OLD STAGE 


115 


Arms and noses ! ’’ She thought this 
was a very funny conversation. When 
she peeped into the room, there was no 
one there except the mina bird, who 
cocked his head on one side and looked 
at the little girl, as much as to say. 
Whoever you are, my master will mend 
your nose or your toes, or whatever part 
of you is broken.’' 

Doctor Bigelow was in his inner office. 
He looked at Flossy’s finger and said 
no bones were broken. Flossy was rather 
disappointed to hear this. Several of 
the girls whom she knew had broken 
their collar-bones. It made one distin- 
guished to have had such an accident, 
so she was half-sorry to learn that her 
finger was only bruised, nothing worse. 

Doctor Bigelow did it up beautifully 
with his own skilful hands, winding a 
soft linen bandage over the hurt place. 
The finger had^ to be wrapped up for 


116 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


some weeks, and even after it had com- 
pletely healed, it did not get back its 
natural shape altogether. When another 
little girl told Flossy she had broken her 
collar-bone or her arm. Flossy would 
hold out her hands, and show the dif- 
ference between her right forefinger 
(which had been hurt in the omnibus 
door) and her left. This was better than 
nothing. When she grew older, she 
really did hurt her knee, and was lame 
for a long time. Then she understood 
how unpleasant a thing it is to break a 
bone, and to be obliged to sit still till 
you almost grow to your chair. 

When the snow was deep, and this 
happened very often in winter, the omni- 
buses were put on runners. It seemed 
very strange and interesting to pass 
down the familiar streets on a new white 
road between high glittering walls, which 
quite hid the sidewalks from your view. 



“FLOSSY EXHIBITED HER INJURED FINGER 


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THE OLD STAGE 


117 


I do not think the snow was carried away 
by the city at that time. It was simply 
piled at the edge of the roadway, so that 
you seemed to be riding past an endless 
number of snow forts. By and by there 
would come warm days, when everything 
softened and melted. Then the omnibus, 
instead of jingling on over a hard, firm, 
sparkling road-bed, labored up and down 
over many little hillocks of brown snow 
and into many little valleys, called cradle- 
holes. This shook you up a good deal^ 
and made some grown folks ill. The 
children did not mind very much. Still 
they preferred white, hard snow to soft, 
brown slush. 

The drivers were not allowed to take 
the fares. When the '' ’bus ” reached 
the bridge, it slowed up, and the con- 
ductor came on board. There were two 
fare-takers, a stout one with a very round 
figure, and a thin one with green eyes. 


118 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


The children preferred the conductor 
with the round outline. They thought 
the green-eyed man was rather cross. 
Perhaps this was because they knew the 
story of the Green Man of Norwich, 
who was indeed a dreadful person, with 
eyes of the color of emeralds. I will tell 
you the story in another chapter of this 
book. 

When the conductor jumped on to the 
step of the omnibus, every one handed 
out a yellow ticket, for which he had 
paid six cents. Children were half-price, 
so Julia and Flossy needed only one 
ticket between them when they went to 
town together. This was often rather 
a dirty little piece of pasteboard. People 
knew nothing about germs then, so the 
omnibus company sold the same tickets 
over and over again. Sometimes Flossy 
would forget, and leave hers in the 
pocket of her dress, when it went to the 


THE OLD STAGE 


119 


wash in summer. The effect was very 
sad. The little pieces of cardboard 
needed washing badly, yet they were too 
delicate to be entrusted to the family 
laundress. When Flossy put her hand 
in the pocket of her clean dress, she drew 
out not one, but several thicknesses of 
cardboard, all brown, save the two out- 
side pieces, which were a faded yellow 
with faint black letters on them. The 
conductor would take a ticket that had 
been washed in Flossy’s pocket, but I 
don’t think he liked to do so. Evidently 
it could not be sold again, and the omni- 
bus company liked to use the little yellow 
cards many times, as I have said. 

Sometimes there were more people in 
the omnibus than the seats would hold. 
Then the other passengers thought it was 
a good plan to have children get up and 
give their seats to their elders. You 
were not expected to stand, but to sit 


120 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


on the lap of a grown person. Flossy 
did not approve of this plan at all. She 
had paid for her seat, why should she 
not keep it? When she was asked to get 
up, she sometimes sat still. Then the 
passengers smiled at each other and 
called her '' Young America.’’ It seemed 
to her very unjust to be called names 
merely because you kept your seat. But 
then Young America ” was not a very 
cruel nickname. 

The same people went in town in the 
stage almost every morning. Julia and 
Flossy soon grew to know them by sight. 
The passengers took a friendly interest 
in the children. Julia was late one morn- 
ing, and nearly missed the omnibus. 
When she clambered up the steps, a kind 
man with a red face helped her in. 
'' Lizy, dear, yer like to V lost the 
coach,” he said, pleasantly. Another day 
it happened, unfortunately, that Flossy 


THE OLD STAGE 


121 


dropped her luncheon out of the door of 
the omnibus. An elderly man with gray 
hair, who was always very nicely dressed, 
jumped out, picked up the little parcel, 
ran and caught up with the ’bus, and, 
handing it back to the little girl, resumed 
his seat. All this was done without ask- 
ing the driver to stop, so you will see 
that the omnibus went very slowly. The 
children at once christened him Pick- 
up-Luncheon-Man,” and his son — who 
was a good deal older than Julia and 
Flossy — they always spoke of as '' Pick- 
up-Luncheon-Boy.” After a time he 
grew to be a young man. He was always 
nicely dressed, like his father. The chil- 
dren fancied he had rather a sporting 
air. They feared he was a gay young 
man, who caused his good father anxiety. 
They never found out whether their sus- 
picions were just or unjust, and they 


122 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


never learned the true names of the Pick- 
up-Luncheon family. 

In those days people dined in the mid- 
dle of the day. Two or half-past two 
was a favorite hour in Boston. Hence, 
as the Howe children breakfasted early, 
they took luncheon to school, done up 
in a small white or colored napkin. 
Lunch-boxes had not been invented then, 
and paper boxes were not so plentiful 
as they are now. Julia and Flossy some- 
times took peach leather with their bread 
and butter, and cake. This was a most 
delightful preserve, dark red in color. 
It was rolled up just like a pinwheel, 
or a slice of jelly-roll, and you unwound 
it when you wanted to take a bite. It 
seemed to go farther in this way than 
if you nibbled at the whole coil. You 
can find out how to make peach leather 
if you look in an old-fashioned Southern 
cook-book, like the one that belonged to 


THE OLD STAGE 


123 


Julia's and Flossy’s grandmother. It 
takes a long time, for the peaches must 
first be cooked slowly down to a paste, 
then spread out very thin on a plate in 
the sun to dry and harden for days. 
Sometimes, if the children come across 
it, the process of drying is suddenly cut 
short. They have a nice feast, but, when 
cold weather comes, there is no peach 
leather for luncheon! Julia and Flossy 
often brought to school the beautiful 
golden russet apples which grew in the 
garden. These had red cheeks in a 
golden-brown network, while the flesh 
had a most pleasant tartness. The other 
children — who did not live in a garden 
— carried Valencia or Messina oranges 
to school. These had to be brought all 
the way from Spain or Italy in slow- 
going vessels. Hence it was necessary 
to pick them green. They were nice and 
juicy, but, oh^ how sour some of them 


124 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


tasted! At that time no oranges were 
sent to the North from Florida or Cali- 
fornia. If any were grown, they were 
eaten up on the spot by the people who 
lived there. The blood-oranges were the 
sweetest you could find, but they were 
not sold separately, and it was hard to 
tell which they were. Flossy was very 
fond of buying these with her pennies. 
She would look over a large pile of the 
golden fruit at Mr. Ford’s, the grocer’s, 
and, if she could spy one with red dots 
on the skin, she bought that. You were 
very seldom able to find a real blood- 
orange; you sometimes found one that 
had red streaks through the yellow flesh. 
This was better than nothing. Flossy 
thought. 

The girls at school were often glad to 
exchange the fruit they brought for the 
Howe children’s apples. This seemed 
very strange to Flossy, for she • greatly 


THE OLD STAGE 


125 


preferred oranges. She thought it would 
be perfectly delightful if her dear papa 
would only buy oranges by the box, like 
the fathers of some of her schoolmates. 
Now the other girls would gladly have 
changed these for the pears and apples 
which furnished fruit all winter to the 
dwellers in the lovely garden. 

When the omnibus came to the middle 
of the bridge, the draw was sometimes 
open. Then you had to wait until the ves- 
sel passed through, and that often took 
a long while. The drawbridge was very 
simple, like those you see in pictures of 
old castles. It was made of planks, 
and the two halves of the draw were 
bolted together in the middle, which rose 
higher than the sides. It then formed a 
sort of little wooden hill, which shook 
rather unpleasantly as the wheels of the 
stage passed over it. When a vessel was 
waiting to be dragged through by a 


126 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


steam-tug, you heard the rattling of iron 
chains, and the drawbridge opened its 
great mouth like some awful monster. 
High up in the air the wooden jaws arose 
till they stood straight up. Then you 
saw first the tug, next a tow-rope, and 
last of all a schooner or a brig pass 
through. Rattle, rattle, rattle went* the 
chains again, and the jaws came down 
slowly. The great upright wooden walls, 
which looked so terrifying, swung slowly 
down and joined together with a sort of 
snap. There was an alarming story of a 
rash boy who once was caught in those 
jaws and badly hurt. We never saw 
any such dreadful accident, though we 
saw foolish boys who would run on to 
the drawbridge while it was still in mo- 
tion. We were very glad when, a few 
years later, it was taken away and one of 
a better and safer pattern put in its place. 
This new draw was as solid as any part 


THE OLD STAGE 


127 


of the bridge. It ran on wheels on a 
platform, while men turned a crank to 
shift it over on one side. 

A long line of teams would collect 
while waiting for the passage of the ves- 
sel. You had to be careful to drive close 
up to the wagon or carriage next in front 
of you, or some one would try to '' cut 
in ahead.’’ Some unfair people would 
try to start a new line, because they 
wanted to get across first. Yet there 
was the sign plainly posted up, Keep to 
the Right as the Law Directs.” When 
the gates were opened again, it was al- 
lowable for carriages to break the line 
and drive on ahead. If they did not, 
they were obliged to crawl on slowly 
for a long distance behind heavily-loaded, 
slow-moving carts. 


CHAPTER VIIL 


THE PICNIC ON THE STATE HOUSE STEPS 

Miss Stenson’s school was on Hancock 
Street, and opposite it was a large gran- 
ite building with the queerest blind win- 
dows you ever saw. They weren’t really 
windows at all, only tall, shallow arches, 
as if great holes had been cut out and 
then filled up with solid stone. These 
great niches were about a foot deep, and 
just high enough, some of them, for 
children to climb into from the sidewalk. 
You could run along the lower part of 
these, so that they made delightful places 
to play in. The building was the Boston 
Reservoir, and that was the reason it 
had no windows. Once the children were 


128 


THE PICNIC 


129 


taken through this queer place. It was 
very dark, without any windows to light 
it up inside. The thing that interested 
Julia and Flossy most was a row of 
strange white circles that lay like foam, 
or like round lace cloths, on the damp, 
black earth. These were formed by the 
constant dripping from the water above. 
How surprised Flossy was when Miss 
Stenson said they were a curious sort 
of plant growing there in the darkness 
and dampness! 

Hancock Street lies on a hill, and at 
the top is the State House, about whose 
stone steps and balustrades it was very 
pleasant to play. The best fun of all was 
to climb all the stairs leading up to the 
dome, and look out of the cupola win- 
dows on the city streets and the carriages 
moving about in them, like so many toys. 
When the Legislature was in session, you 
were not allowed to go up into the dome. 


130 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


because the noise might disturb the mem- 
bers. The children thought that this 
was extremely unjust on the part of the 
Legislature. Why need they mind a 
little noise, which really hurt no one? 

The front steps of the State House 
were like a lovely long hill of stone, as 
they are, indeed, at this day. I doubt, 
however, whether children would be al- 
lowed to play on them. Flossy and her 
friends thought it would be a good plan 
to have a picnic on these steps. They 
agreed to meet on a certain Tuesday 
morning in the spring vacation, and each 
little girl brought her own provisions, 
in true picnic fashion. Julia and Flossy 
carried theirs in a white cotton bag that 
would have looked like a pillow-case if 
it had not pulled up with a string. In 
this funny bag were bread and butter, 
oranges, buns with currants in them, and 
a bottle of shells.’’ This was an old- 


THE PICNIC 


131 


fashioned drink, made by boiling the 
shells of cocoa for hours and hours. You 
could just imagine it tasted like chocolate 
if you tried very hard, and Flossy was 
very fond of it. When they reached the 
State House steps, there were Carrie 
Graham and Barbara Adams waiting for 
them, each with a nice load of provisions. 
The children all sat down on the steps 
to tell each other what they had brought. 
Carrie Graham was drawing a lovely 
Washington pie, with powdered sugar 
on top, out of her bag, when Barbara 
suddenly called out: ‘'Oh, dear! There 
are the boys.’’ Barbara had a younger 
brother who was a great tease and liked 
to bother his sister and her friends. Bar- 
bara had told him of the picnic, never 
once thinking that Bronx would disturb 
them. Bronx thought it would be great 
fun to come to the picnic, though he 
knew perfectly well he had not been in- 


132 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


\rited. So as soon as Barbara had started, 
he whistled to his boy neighbors, and 
they all agreed to go with him to the 
State House steps, and have some fun. 
Dear me! How much annoyed the girls 
were! You couldn't have a picnic with 
boys teasing you all the time. Fortu- 
nately, Carrie Graham did not live very 
far off, and behind her parents' house 
was a nice shed, with a roof on top where 
clothes were dried. Not so fine a place 
for a picnic as the State House steps, but 
still very good, and the boys could not 
trouble them there. 

The Washington -pie was put back in 
the bag, and the four little girls started 
to walk down Beacon Hill, the boys fol- 
lowing as near as they dared behind, and 
'' teasing " as they went. Flossy dragged 
her bag along the sidewalk, because this 
was easier than carrying it. She wanted 
to find out, too, whether the bottle would 


THE PICNIC 


133 


break. She did find out long before they 
reached Carrie Graham’s house, for the 
bag left a long, wet, milky streak on the 
bricks as she drew it along, and the bread 
and butter was all soaked with cocoa 
shells. You will wonder why Flossy was 
so very, very foolish. She often won- 
dered herself afterward. 

At last they reached the Grahams’ 
house. Carrie rushed up the steps and 
rang the bell. When the waitress opened 
the door, the children all hurried in and 
slammed it, for fear that Bronx and his 
friends would try to follow them. It 
did not take long to run through the hall 
and kitchen, and to climb on to the roof 
of the shed. The clothes-lines were 
hanging above, and the house shut off 
their view in front, so that they could 
not see the Common nor the Public 
Garden. And — down on the sidewalk 
below, just outside the high board fence. 


1B4 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

were those horrid boys again ! They 
watched every mouthful the girls ate, 
and made themselves as disagreeable as 
possible. And we all know that small 
brothers can be very disagreeable when 
they try. It was really necessary to 
answer them back when they said the 
girls were greedy. So there was a great 
deal of loud conversation between the 
girls on the shed roof and Bronx and 
his friends in the street. Grown people 
would have called it shouting. You 
horrid things! Why don’t you go away? 
Nobody invited you to come!” screamed 
the girls. Oh, how fine we feel up on 
the roof! My! but you darsn’t come 
down,” retorted Bronx. ‘‘ We don’t want 
to come down. I wish you’d go right 
away!” Then the boys answered with 
whistles and catcalls. The cook and 
waitress could hardly hear what each 
other said in the kitchen, there was so 


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135 


much noise on the shed and on the side- 
walk. Altogether, it was a very noisy 
picnic, and not a very cheerful one. Mrs. 
Graham, Carrie’s mother, was a lady of 
very quiet tastes. She did not at all 
approve of the picnic on the roof, and 
the children never had another. Indeed, 
they did not wish to. They were greatly 
disappointed, however, to have lost such 
a splendid chance for a feast on the State 
House steps. 

When summer came. Miss Stenson 
took all her little scholars for a picnic 
in Bussey’s Woods. To see real checker- 
berries hiding under green leaves on the 
ground was a delightful experience. 
Flossy had often bought them in a shop, 
measured out in a tiny tin cup. But 
checkerberries growing in the woods 
were so much fresher and crisper! Then 
the wild Solomon’s-seal was such a mys- 
terious plant! Why had King Solomon, 


136 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


who lived so many thousand years ago, 
stamped his seal on this strange root, 
so that it grew up again year after year, 
always bearing that queer mark? There 
were wild columbines, too, blooming in 
high, rocky places, and, most wonderful 
of all, a few clumps of the lovely moun- 
tain laurel, with its dark, glossy green 
leaves and pink crinkly blossoms. 

The children longed to take off their 
shoes and stockings and walk barefoot 
through the soft grass. This Miss Sten- 
son would not allow, lest their parents 
should disapprove. Barbara Adams was 
permitted to take off hers for a time, as 
she had wet her shoes picking violets at 
the edge of the brook. Flossy wished 
very much that she, too, had wet her 
feet like the lucky Barbara. One of the 
older girls said, '' Why donff you jump 
across the brook and wet one foot a 
little?’’ Flossy thought this would be 


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137 


just the thing if the stream were not 
quite so wide. 

It was a good long jump for a very 
little girl with short legs. Bessie Rose 
said she would stand on the other side 
and catch Flossy’s hand as she sprang 
across from one bank to the other. One, 
two, three ! away the little girl went 
flying through the air. Bessie Rose and 
Mary Anderson caught her by the hands, 
as they had promised. Either they did 
not hold on tight enough, or the edge 
of the bank was slippery. Flossy failed 
to get a good footing, and plump! down 
she went into the water, wetting not 
only her shoes and stockings, but all her 
clothes up to the waist. 

Miss Stenson was very kind. She 
slipped off the child’s dripping garments, 
and rolled her up in a couple of warm 
blanket shawls. There Flossy had to 
stay, curled up on a bank of dry pine- 


138 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


needles, while the other children joined 
in merry games. 

Clearly one could not play '' Open the 
gates as high as the sky or '' Old man, 
Fm on your castle ’’ rolled up like a 
mummy. By and by a scrabble-bag was 
hung from the bough of a tree. Bessie 
Rose was blindfolded and turned around 
three times. When Barbara Adams said, 
‘‘How many fingers do I hold up?’’ 
Bessie answered “ Three.” All the chil- 
dren laughed at this, because Barbara 
had all her ten fingers spread out, plain 
to behold. Evidently the handkerchief 
was too tightly bound for Bessie to peep 
under it, or she would not have answered 
wrong. Miss Stenson handed her a big 
stick, and told her to hit the scrabble- 
bag if she could. Bessie walked off in 
the wrong direction, and struck three 
blows in the empty air, while the other 
children giggled and thought it great 


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139 


fun. All the girls were blindfolded in 
turn, except the wet child rolled up in the 
shawls. Barbara came very near the bag, 
and even hit it once. It slipped quickly 
away from the stick, and swung off on 
the other side, out of reach. Never was 
there such an aggravating old bag! 
There it hung, full of raisins, pop-corn, 
and candy, — a delicious feast, if you 
could only pierce the thick brown paper! 
Carrie managed to punch a hole in it at 
last, and down came the pop-corn all over 
her thick curly brown hair. Barbara 
rushed forward and shook out the con- 
tents of the bag, for this was according 
to the rules of the game. All the chil- 
dren gave a yell of delight, and flung 
themselves on the goodies scattered over 
the grass. Carrie quickly tore the hand- 
kerchief from her eyes and joined in the 
fun. Foolish, naughty little Flossy 
looked on from her piney couch, and 


140 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

wondered whether she was entirely for- 
gotten. To see cream and cinnamon 
candy in fat pink and white chunks, 
sugared pop-corn, and brown burnt 
almonds flying through the air, and not 
be able to help yourself to a bit of any- 
thing, was a sore trial. Just as two small 
tears began to gather in her eyes, Carrie 
Graham ran up to her with a fist full 
of raisins and candy. Flossy received 
them thankfully. She ate them as slowly 
as possible, hoping that her clothes would 
be dry by the time she had finished the 
last burnt almond. Since this was her 
favorite sweetmeat, she naturally saved it 
for the last. Alas! Did ever garments 
take so long to dry! There they hung 
pinned to the boughs of a tree, looking 
limp, wet, and wretched, something like 
their foolish little owner, as she poked 
her head out of the shawls wrapped 
around her. After several hours, which 


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141 


seemed to Flossy a dozen years, Miss 
Stenson said the clothes were dry enough 
to put on. The little girl hurried into 
them as quickly as possible, promising 
herself to make up for lost time. Carrie 
Graham told her of a lovely little nook 
where great pale blue violets grew. The 
two children put their arms around each 
other, and skipped along merrily to the 
turn of the road through the woods. 
There they stood still, for, driving 
through the entrance to the Bussey 
Place, they saw the omnibus come to 
take them back to Boston! 

THE GREEN MAN OF NORWICH 
INTRODUCTION 

You must not think I have forgotten 
my promise to tell you the story of 
“ The Green Man of Norwich^ I do 
not think any of you have heard it, for 
I have never seen it in any book. Many, 


142 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

many years ago, when Julia and Flossy 
were little children, an English lady told 
it to them. Whether she made it up her- 
self, or whether she found it in some old 
volume of fairy-tales, I cannot say. This 
dear, good lady wrote many excellent 
books for grown people afterward, but 
none which Flossy liked half so well as 
the wonderful story of the Green Man. 
As she and Flossy’s sweet sister Julia 
have both passed beyond the golden gate, 
I am the only one left to tell the story. 
It would be a thousand pities to have 
such a delightful tale lost for lack of 
some one to write it down. 

PART ONE 

Once upon a time there lived a farmer 
who had the finest oxen in all the coun- 
try round. Every year he went to the 
fair at Michaelmastide to sell some of 
his fat cattle. Now this farmer had a 


the"" picnic 


143 


son named Joseph, a likely lad, who stood 
six feet in his stockings and could lift a 
barrel of sugar without winking. When 
the father saw what a fine, strong young 
fellow Joseph had grown, he said to 
him: 

‘‘ When Michaelmastide comes again. 
Son Joseph, thou shalt take the oxen to 
the fair, and I will bide at home and take 
care of the farm.'’ 

With all my heart," answered the 
lad, for he thought it would be much 
better sport to see the fair than to stay 
on the farm and drive the plough every 
day. 

When the time came, Joseph dressed 
himself up in his best clothes, and set 
off for the market town, driving three 
pair of oxen before him and whistling to 
keep his courage up. He had never been 
out in the world before, and when he 
saw his mother waving her apron to 


144 


FLOSSY’S PITaY-DAYS 


him, as she stood in the kitchen porch, 
he felt a bit down-hearted. 

Everything at the fair was so gay and 
bright that Joseph’s spirits began to rise. 
Just as he was tying the last yoke of 
oxen to the iron rail where all the cattle 
stood, some one called out to him, 
Joseph, come have a game of cards.” 

He was never so surprised in his life. 
How could any one know his name in 
that strange place? He looked toward 
the spot from which the voice came, and 
there, seated at a little table, was a very 
strange-looking person. His hat and all 
his clothes down to his boot-laces were 
green, and when he looked up at the lad, 
Joseph noticed that his eyes were the 
color of emeralds, and sparkled like 
them. 

The wise old farmer had cautioned 
his son not to play any games with 


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145 


strangers, but Joseph thought he was 
smart enough to take care of himself. 

‘'We will play for a pair of white 
oxen,’' said the Green Man. He turned 
the cards, and shook the dice — Joseph 
lost ! Something told him he’d better 
stop then — but he went on playing, 
hoping to win back the white oxen — the 
handsomest yoke that he had. Again 
the Green Man turned the cards and 
shook the dice. Joseph lost first the 
black pair, and then the red pair — all 
that he had! 

“ Now,” said the stranger, “ we will 
play for three yoke of oxen. If you win, 
you will get back all your cattle; if I 
win — ” 

“Well, what then?” asked the poor 
lad, who did not dare go home and tell 
his father he had lost all those fine 
oxen. 

“ If I win, you must give me three 


146 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

more yoke of fat cattle, or come and 
work for me, till you earn the price of 
them.’’ 

Of course Joseph lost again, and the 
stranger slipped away, saying: ‘‘To- 
morrow you must come to my house. 
Any one will tell you^where I live, for I 
am the Green Man of Norwich.” 

The lad felt like crying, when he found 
himself alone in a strange place, robbed 
of all he had — his six fat oxen. But 
as crying would not mend matters he 
plucked up the best heart he could, and 
started to walk along the turnpike, at 
a good brisk pace. Presently he heard 
a loud barking and looking up, he saw 
three yellow dogs jumping up on an old 
woman, and trying to take the food out 
of her basket. Joseph was a kind-hearted 
lad, and did not like to see an old dame 
like that in trouble. So he shouted 
lustily at the three yellow dogs, and 


THE PICNIC 


147 


plied his willow switch, till they all ran 
away. 

'' Can you tell me the road to the 
house of the Green Man of Norwich, 
good mother?” he said, politely. 

Indeed I can, and it’s well you asked 
me,” she replied. Take these three 
barley-cakes, and these three bottles of 
wine, for you’ll need them before you 
come to your journey’s end. Turn 
neither to your right hand nor yet to 
your left, but go straight on till you come 
to a yellow house with green blinds, as 
large as a hill. My youngest son lives 
there. He is a giant, but he cannot hurt 
you, if you eat nothing save your barley- 
cake, and drink only the wine I give you. 
You must rest there for the night, and 
in the morning he will show you the way 
to the house of my second son, who is 
a giant with two heads. Be sure to eat 
nothing that he gives you, either, and he 


148 FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 

will tell you how to find the home of my 
eldest, who has three heads. You may 
rest safely there, if you refuse all the 
fine things to eat he will be sure to offer 
you. On the third day, he will show you 
the road to Norwich. And, mind you, let 
none of them know you saw their 
mother. Now good-by, and good luck 
to you! ’’ 

Oh, dear! Poor Joseph wished might- 
ily he had never played cards with the 
Green Man, but there was nothing for 
it now save to trudge on, with the best 
foot foremost. When he looked up to 
thank the old woman, she had vanished. 
There was the basket, however, with the 
cakes and the bottles, so Joseph picked 
it up, and started for the house of the 
first giant. 

All turned out just as the old dame 
had said. Joseph soon came to the 
yellow house with the green blinds. 


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149 


Here he spent the night, but he ate 
nothing save the barley-cake, and drank 
only the currant wine. '' Humph,’' said 
the youngest son. Haven’t you seen 
my mother?” 

‘‘How should I know your mother?” 
replied Joseph. 

The giant with two heads was bigger 
than his younger brother, and the one 
with three heads was as tall as the Eiffel 
Tower or the Brooklyn Bridge — or as 
anything you ever saw. The farmer lad 
trembled a good deal when he beheld 
these monstrous creatures, but he kept 
up a stout heart, as a brave man should, 
and refused all the fine food they offered 
him. When the third day dawned the 
giant with the three heads showed him 
the road to Norwich. His mouths were 
so high up in the clouds, and he bellowed 
so loud, that it sounded like thunder 
echoing among the hills. 


150 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


On and on Joseph trudged up hill and 
down dale, till he came to a place where 
he saw three beautiful maidens flying in 
the air. Then he hid himself in the 
bushes, for the last giant had told him 
these were the daughters of the Green 
Man, and that he must get the youngest 
to help him. When they were tired of 
flying about, the three maidens each took 
the feather out of her back; then they 
all sat down to rest. While they were 
talking and laughing together, Joseph 
stole out slyly, and carried off the feather 
of the youngest daughter. It was an ell 
long, and silver white, while the older 
sisters had red and blue plumes. 

The youngest was greatly distressed, 
when she looked for her feather and 
could not find it. All the three maidens 
hunted and hunted for it. At last the 
two older sisters flew away, arm in arm, 
high up over the clouds. Then Joseph 


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151 


came out of his hiding-place. He was 
rather abashed at being obliged to talk 
to such a beautiful princess. But again 
he plucked up courage, made her a low 
bow, and told her he would return her 
silver-white feather if she would tell him 
how to reach the house of the Green 
Man of Norwich. 

The youngest daughter turned her eyes 
on him with, oh, such a kind and pitying 
look ! 

'' My father lives in the midst of a 
strange labyrinth, with paths winding so 
curiously you could never reach him 
yourself, but I will carry you on my 
back.’’ 

Joseph asked nothing better. The 
princess put her feather in place, and 
mounted to the skies. When they had 
flown a long way, she descended behind 
a clump of evergreens. 

'' Mind, you must not tell my father 


152 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


I brought you here/' said she. Then 
she left him to look about the strange 
garden, but Joseph did not dare to walk 
far, lest he should get lost in the laby- 
rinth. Suddenly he heard a voice at his 
elbow. 

''Good evening; how did you get 
here?" said the Green Man of Norwich. 

" Oh, it was a long road, and I saw 
many strange things by the way, but 
here I am at last," replied the lad. 

" Humph ! My youngest daughter 
must have helped you," quoth the man 
with the emerald eyes. Joseph held his 
peace. One might argue with a stupid 
giant, even if he had three heads, but 
what was the use of arguing with such 
a wonderful person as this? 

" To-morrow morning you will begin 
work," said the Green Man. " All you 
will have to do is to cut down that old 
apple-tree, a small job for a hearty fellow 


THE PICNIC 


153 


like you/’ Joseph thought this would 
be easy work, for he had often felled 
trees in the wood lot at home. Early 
in the morning he started on his task. 
He hummed a merry tune as he swung 
the axe with his strong arms. Faster 
and faster the chips flew. Presently, 
with a groan, the old tree toppled and 
fell over. 

Barely had the branches touched the 
ground, when the trunk straightened it- 
self up and the tree jumped back in its 
place, sound as ever. You could not even 
see the marks of the axe on the bark. 

'' Heigho ! I must set to work again,” 
said the lad. This time he began to cut 
on the other side. To make a long story 
short, the tree returned to its place as 
often as he felled it. Just as he was 
giving up the job in despair, the youngest 
daughter appeared. 

'' Give me the axe,” said she. She re- 


154 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


peated some magic words, then she 
struck the apple-tree with the handle of 
the axe. Instantly it fell on the ground 
and stayed there. 

'' Don’t tell my father I helped you,” 
the youngest daughter whispered. As 
evening fell, the Green Man appeared 
again.. When he saw the tree had been 
cut down, he looked very much disgusted. 

This is the work of my youngest 
daughter,” quoth he. “ To-morrow you 
are to clean out that stable over there. 
That’s a small job, too,” said the Green 
Man, as he walked away. 

Our brave lad arose with the sun, and 
plied the pitchfork so well that before 
nine o’clock the barn was as clean as a 
new whistle. Then came a rushing 
sound, and all the dirt flew back into 
the stable. 

'' A man can only do his best,” said 
Joseph. So he started the job over again. 


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155 


but you and I can guess that the same 
thing happened as before. The dirt 
hopped back every time the barn was 
clean. 

Give me the pitchfork/’ said a voice 
at his elbow. Joseph handed it to the 
youngest daughter. Again she muttered 
strange words, and now she held the fork 
by dhe tines. She struck the floor of the 
stable with the handle, and every bit of 
dirt flew out of the doors and windows! 

'' Mind, don’t tell my father,” said she. 
When he came, toward evening, and saw 
the barn as clean as a new pin, he looked 
as nearly black as a Green Man can, black 
with rage, that is to say. 

'' My youngest daughter has been help- 
ing you,” said he. Then he led Joseph 
to a pond. ''To-morrow your task will 
be to empty the lake with this.” So say- 
ing, the Green Man handed him a lady’s 
silver thimble. There is really not much 


166 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


sense in trying to empty a pond with 
a thimble. One never knows what one 
can do till he tries/’ said the brave lad 
to himself. All day long he worked with 
a right good will, but, as you will guess, 
the pond looked big as ever when the 
shadows began to fall. 

Again the youngest daughter helped 
him out of his plight. Taking the thim- 
ble between her thumb and forefinger, 
she turned it upside down, repeated a 
magic sentence, and lo! the water began 
to flow out of the pond in a little stream, 
all of its own accord. Soon nothing was 
left but black mud. 

Now your service is ended, and my 
father will have to let you go home,” 
said the youngest daughter. '' When he 
comes this evening, mind you ask him 
for my hand in marriage, for I dare not 
stay here after you go, he will be so 
angry with me for helping you!” 


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157 


PART TWO 

If the Green Man was angry when 
Joseph did the tasks set for him, you 
may guess how furious he was when the 
lad asked to marry the youngest daugh- 
ter. All he said was: “ You must choose 
her from the others three times. If you 
fail, your life will be forfeit.^’ 

Next day Joseph was brought to the 
mansion where his employer lived. He 
was told to kneel down and look through 
a keyhole into the great hall where the 
sisters would presently walk round. The 
youngest managed to whisper to Joseph, 
on her way to the hall, “ I shall drop my 
handkerchief.’’ The three sisters were 
all of the same height, and all were 
dressed exactly alike in orange-colored 
robes, with veils to match covering their 
faces. You could no more tell them 
apart than you could tell one pea from 


158 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


another! Presently the youngest daugh- 
ter dropped her handkerchief. 

That is the one/' said Joseph. The 
sisters were dressed in red next time, 
and after that in blue. But the youngest 
dropped her handkerchief every time, so 
the lad always chose right. 

'' Now you must get the wedding- 
ring," said the Green Man. It hangs 
on the weather-cock on top of the steeple 
of that white church. If you don't get 
it, your life is forfeit." 

Oh, dear! And how could our brave 
lad climb that terrible steeple, which ran 
up and up into the sky, like a great white 
needle! As he stood craning his neck 
to look up at it, the youngest daughter 
was again beside him. She said: 

'' I am going into a trance so that you 
can take all the bones of my body and 
make a ladder of them to climb the 
steeple. But mind you put your foot 


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159 


on every step, for, if you miss one, I 
shall lose a bone/’ Joseph went very 
carefully up that strange ladder, you may 
be very sure. He took the wedding-ring 
off the weather-cock, and came down 
slowly and cautiously, treading on every 
round of the ladder till he reached the 
last step. He was so delighted to have 
finished his terrible task that he skipped 
this and jumped to the ground, forget- 
ting what the youngest daughter had 
told him. 

‘'There! I have lost the top joint of 
my little finger!” quoth she, holding up 
her right hand. 

The Green Man could not very well 
make any more objections, so the wed- 
ding came off, and a fine one it was. 
After all the guests had gone, Joseph felt 
tired and thought he would like to lie 
down. 

“Take care!” said the bride. She 


160 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


threw a brick on the bed. It went right 
through and fell into a cauldron of boil- 
ing lead. “We must get away from 
here at once ! ’’ she exclaimed. She 
dressed herself up like an old fiddler. 
Then she went out to the stable and 
played merry tunes to the men watching 
the horses. While they were all laugh- 
ing and joking, she slipped a potion into 
the pitcher that held their drink. Soon 
the watchmen dropped off to sleep one 
after the other. She took the fleetest 
horse from the barn, saddled and bridled 
him herself. Then Joseph mounted the 
steed, the bride jumped up behind him, 
and away they went as fast as the good 
horse could lay foot to the ground. On 
and on they rode through the night, never 
once stopping to draw rein. When the 
sun rose, the youngest daughter said : 
“ I see my father coming after us with 
his seven-leagued boots.” 


THE PICNIC 


161 


She turned the magic ring on her 
finger, and a great range of blue hills 
sprang up between them and their pur- 
suer. On they went, and, if they moved 
quickly before, you may be sure they 
went faster now. Presently the bride 
said again: 

'' He is coming; he has crossed the 
hills.’’ So she raised a great forest of 
trees, but after awhile the Green Man 
made his way through that, too. Then 
she turned the ring again, and a wood 
sprang up full of terrible thorn-trees. 
This delayed her father for some time, 
but at last she again espied him in the 
distance. Then Joseph and she jumped 
to the ground. She changed the horse 
into a church, the saddle into the organ, 
and the bridle into the clerk. The bride 
and groom hid themselves in the organ- 
loft, leaving the clerk at the door reading 
his book. 


162 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


Presently the Green Man came along 
in his seven-leagued boots. 

Have you seen a couple go by here 
mounted on a fleet horse?’’ said he to 
the clerk. The clerk shut his book and 
nodded his head. 

“ Yes, they went in that direction,” 
replied he, pointing to the road on the 
right. The Green Man went thundering 
down that road, his great boots pound- 
ing along as he walked. Soon he was out 
of sight. Then the bride and groom 
came out of their hiding-place. She 
turned the church back into the horse, 
the organ into the saddle, the clerk into 
the bridle. She and her husband were 
careful to take the road to the left, you 
may be very sure. When they had trav- 
elled for several days, they came to the 
farm where Joseph lived. Do you go 
in first, and prepare your parents for my 
coming,” said she. I will await you 


THE PICNIC 


163 


here, but do not let any one kiss you on 
your left cheek, or you will forget all 
about me/' 

Joseph promised to be very careful. 
His father and mother were overjoyed to 
see him, for they had thought he must be 
dead. He was careful to turn only the 
right side of his face to them. But the 
great black house-dog suddenly jumped 
up and licked the young man on the left 
cheek. Instantly Joseph forgot all about 
his bride. She waited and waited. At 
last she guessed what had happened and 
went sadly away. 

Joseph's parents were very anxious 
that he should marry and settle down on 
the farm, for they were growing old, and 
needed younger folks to help them. 
They chose for his wife a merry lass 
with bright red cheeks. When the wed- 
ding-day arrived there was great rejoic- 
ing. The true bride came to the door 


164 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


of the farmhouse disguised like a gipsy, 
and bearing on her arm a covered basket. 

“ Let me come in, and I will amuse 
the wedding guests,’’ said she to the lass 
who opened the door. The farmer and 
his wife were delighted to hear that, so 
they let her come in. The true bride took 
from her basket a cock, a hen, and a bag 
of corn. She threw down some of the 
grain, and the hen was greedy, taking 
more than her share. Then the cock 
pecked the hen. 

Don’t you remember how I carried 
you on my back to my father’s house?” 
said the youngest daughter. Again she 
threw down some corn, and once more 
the cock pecked the hen. 

Don’t you remember how I made a 
ladder for you out of the bones of my 
body?” quoth she. A third time she 
strewed the grain, and a third time the 
cock pecked the greedy hen. 


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165 


“ Don’t you remember how I stole a 
horse from my father’s stable to save 
your life?” said the youngest daughter. 

Joseph had been standing like a man 
in a dream. Now the truth rushed upon 
him, and he caught the true bride in his 
arms. 

'' This is my own dear wife, who saved 
my life over and over again, and if I for- 
got her it was because Ben the house-dog 
licked my left cheek.” Then there was 
great rejoicing because the lost was 
found, for mind you, the youngest daugh- 
ter was very beautiful, and as good as 
she was fair to see. 

The red-cheeked lass was as merry as 
the rest. '' How glad I am that I did 
not get some one else’s husband by mis- 
take!” said she. 

As for the Green Man of Norwich, he 
floundered on in a terrible rage, because 
he could not find his youngest daughter 


166 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


and her husband. It was so dark when 
he reached the shore of the sea, and he 
was so blinded by anger and so deafened 
by the loud sound of the seven-leagued 
boots that he neither heard nor saw the 
great waves. Into the dark waters he 
walked, and the hungry sea rushed into 
his great boots, tearing them from his 
feet. Then the ocean swept him away, 
and I, for one, think he was a good rid- 
dance! 


CHAPTER IX. 


“paper jewelry 

When Julia and Flossy were very 
young, their dear mother took all the 
children to spend the summer at the 
seashore. They stayed at a big board- 
ing-house called “ The Cliff House,’' for 
it stood near the edge of high, steep 
rocks whose base was washed by the 
waves. Flossy had to be very watchful 
that summer. She would run very quickly 
through the door and out on to the lawn, 
when she was sure no enemy was near. 
The enemy were the gentlemen who 
boarded at the Cliff House. It was the 
fashion in that day for grown people 

to kiss children. Flossy disliked this 
167 


168 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


very much, and would not allow any one 
to touch her if she could help it. The 
gentlemen soon found this out, and she 
came to be known as the little girl who 
would not be kissed. Mr. Grimes caught 
her one day, as she came out of the side 
door by the dining-room, and, lifting 
her high up in the air, said, '' Now Fve 
got you ! '' 

Flossy struggled and kicked so hard 
that he was glad to put her down. He 
might as well have tried to catch and 
kiss wild-fire! Sometimes Mr. Custis or 
one of the other young men would block 
the doorway so that she could not get 
out without passing by them. But she 
always contrived to slip away, to bound 
over their feet, or to creep under their 
arms. Soon she became rather proud 
of her title. Her cousin Louisa, a very 
amiable and gentle child, would kiss any 
one who asked her without making any 


‘‘PAPER JEWELRY” 


169 


fuss. Flossy thought this was extremely 
silly and undignified of Louisa. Her 
cousin was nearly two years younger 
than she, however, and what can you 
expect of a child of three? So she kept 
a careful lookout for the enemy, for she 
fancied they were always lying in wait 
to catch her. They really thought very 
much less about the child than she sup- 
posed. Had they known they were wor- 
rying her and making her summer un- 
happy, they would have let her alone. 

Mr. and Mrs. Longfellow stayed at the 
Cliflf House, too. The Longfellow boys 
wore short bright blue jackets and long 
white trousers when they were dressed 
up for best. In the evening there was 
sometimes playing on the piano. Then 
Julia and Flossy danced the polka with 
the little boys in their blue jackets and 
white pantaloons. Their father had a 
handsome and interesting face, but he 


170 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


was not tall. The boys said to him one 
day, Papa, why are you called Mr. 
Longfellow? I think your name should 
be Mr. Shortfellow.'' This was a silly 
thing to say, but the boys were so young 
they did not know that it is impolite to 
talk about how people look. 

On the lawn in front of the Cliff House 
was a “ joggling-board.” This was a 
long plank supported on two wooden 
horses. It was high enough to sit on 
comfortably, and the ends were fastened 
so that they would not slip out. Grown 
people sat on the middle of the joggling- 
board, and made it go up and down by 
pushing against the earth with their feet. 
But the children knew a better way than 
that. You climbed up to one end and 
walked slowly down to the middle, then 
up as far as the other end, waving your 
arms and pretending you were dancing 
on the tight rope. The board bounced 



“THE BOARD BOUNCED UP AND DOWN AS THEY 

WALKED ” 



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“PAPER JEWELRY” 


171 


Up and down as you walked, so that it 
was really almost as exciting as a real 
rope. When you stood in the middle 
and made the plank go up and down very 
hard, it actually threw you off on the 
lawn sometimes. If the board had been 
a little narrower, and the ground a little 
farther off, one could almost imagine 
that it was dangerous. Flossy was play- 
ing on it one day, when she espied some- 
thing bright and shining lying in the 
grass. She hurried over to see what it 
was. It proved to be her own beloved 
silver mug, all flattened out, with a great 
round dent in its side ! The careless 
nurse had left it on the lawn. One of 
the gentlemen, supposing it to be a 
pewter mug, snapped his pistol to see 
if he could hit it. 

He succeeded, and Flossy had to drink 
from a china mug for the rest of the 


summer. 


172 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


The Cliff House was at Newport, 
where the climate is so soft and beau- 
tiful there is no place quite like it in the 
whole world. That is what the people 
think who live there, and if other persons 
do not share this opinion, it is only be- 
cause their home is somewhere else, so 
they do not know. Next year. Doctor 
Howe bought a farm out on the island, 
and here the children came every sum- 
mer. They had lived at the Valley sev- 
eral seasons when their mother told them 
the Crawfords had taken a house in the 
neighborhood. This was delightful news, 
for the Crawfords were cousins and 
pleasant playfellows. Their home was 
a long, long way off, in Italy, and their 
clothes were of a diff'erent fashion from 
those worn in America. The Crawford 
children wore hoops made of stiff rope, 
very wonderful to behold. They had 
cloaks called aquascutums. Annie Craw- 


''PAPER JEWELRY'' 


178 


ford showed her cousins how you could 
pour a mug of water on one of their 
cloaks and not a drop would go through! 
Flossy’ thought to herself, if she had had 
clothes made of aquascutum, she would 
not have got so wet at Miss Stenson’s 
picnic. Annie and Jennie, the two oldest 
girls, wore their hair turned up behind 
in black chenille nets. On Sunday they 
appeared in broad Leghorn hats, with 
white ribbons, most beautiful to behold. 
They had button shoes, which were much 
more trig and neat than congress boots, 
though more troublesome to put on. 

Their father was an artist, whose beau- 
tiful work you will see when you go to 
the city of Washington. He made some 
of the bronze doors of the Capitol there, 
and also the statue of America which 
stands on top of the high dome. Annie 
had inherited his talent, and could paint 
really wonderful things. Flossy loved 


174 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


to use the brush also, although her work 
was not like her cousin’s, as any one 
could see with half an eye. 

Annie said they must have a studio, 
like her dear father’s. So they took the 
room belonging to Flossy’s papa, because 
he was away, caring for his blind schol- 
ars in Boston. They each had a little 
table to sit at, so that there should be 
plenty of room and neither should joggle 
the other. On each table was a paint- 
box, with little china saucers, brushes 
of different sizes, a tumbler of water, 
pencils, cardboard, paper of many colors, 
and a pair of scissors. Annie and Flossy 
made paper dolls from the cardboard, 
and cut their dresses out of the colored 
paper. The handsomest dresses were 
painted on white paper. Annie made a 
magnificent gown for her doll, of yellow 
satin and black lace. First she covered 
the paper all over with gamboge, which 


“PAPER JEWELRY 


175 


is a beautiful yellow color, as you know 
if you have a paint-box. Then, when 
this had dried thoroughly, she drew fine 
black lines with the brush, straight up 
and down first, and then across, making 
a real network just like lace, with the 
yellow satin showing through. After- 
ward she made a pattern of oak leaves 
on the lace, and trimmed the dress with 
red roses. It took a long time to make 
this gown, but I assure you it was truly 
splendid when it was finished. 

At first Annie and Flossy rubbed each 
paint separately on a little saucer, as 
they had been told to do. They found 
this slow work, and besides it made only 
a faint shade of blue or pink. They 
decided it was much better to rub the 
brush directly on the cake of paint. This 
soon made a nice little hole at the end 
or in the middle. It was neater to use 
the brush on one end of the cake, because 


176 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


the hole did not show so much when 
you laid all the colors in their place, and 
shut the box up neatly to put it away. 
Some paints were much softer and pleas- 
anter to work with than others. Gam- 
boge, lake, and ultramarine made a lovely 
rich paste on your brush and a good 
thick color on the paper. 

Prussian blue, on the other hand, was 
terribly watery, and not a pretty blue, 
either. Flossy thought it was just like 
the indigo the laundress put in her 
clothes — and probably it was. The nice, 
soft, thick, colors that Annie, and Flossy 
liked grew to have such big holes in them 
that soon there was nothing left. Then 
the children would beg to go to the 
apothecary’s shop in Newport to buy 
new paints. Mr. Hazard, the druggist, 
was a very kind and obliging man. If 
Annie and Flossy wanted to know what 
a cake of paint looked like when it was 


PAPER JEWELRY 


177 


wet, he would rub a little on his white 
shirt cuff, so that they could see the color 
for themselves. I think he must have 
been an invalid, for he wore a long 
dressing-gown covered all over with 
green, red, and yellow palm leaves, in- 
stead of just a common coat like other 
people. 

It happened very sadly that some of 
Annie’s and Flossy’s favorite paints were 
very expensive. You could always get 
plenty of that horrid old Prussian blue 
for twelve cents, whereas the delightful 
ultramarine blue cost a quarter of a dol- 
lar. Carmine, the most beautiful color 
of all, you could not buy for less than 
fifty cents. So red lake had to take its 
place on all except the very best ball 
dresses. Even more fascinating than the 
carmine were the gold and silver paints. 
These came spread very thin on a real 
blue mussel-shell. At one end was a 


178 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

little lump of the precious metal, and 
you dug this off very sparingly with your 
finest brush, so as not to waste it. 

The principal use that Annie and 
Flossy made of the gold was in their 
jewelry work. For, after a time, they 
grew tired of paper dolls, and set up a 
shop in the studio, where they made 
breast-pins, combs, earrings, necklaces, 
and finger-rings most beautiful to be- 
hold. 

The jewelry was painted on dark gray 
or brown paper. Annie and Flossy did 
not cut each brooch or bracelet out sep- 
arately. That would have been a great 
deal of trouble, and would not have 
looked so well. They painted a brooch 
in the middle of the paper, with two ear- 
rings above, a comb below, and a neck- 
lace spreading around the edge. Then 
they cut the whole out in a beautiful 


PAPER JEWELRY 


170 


oval. Annie made one pink pearl set, 
which Flossy thought was most lovely. 

On the door of the studio was a sign 
saying “ Jewelry for Sale.^’ It was de- 
lightful, when you grew a little tired of 
painting, to have some one go rap! tap! 
tap ! at the door of the studio ! When 
Flossy opened it, her mamma would walk 
in, or Julia or one of the younger chil- 
dren. Then the little painters showed 
all they had done that morning, and 
mamma said, “Oh, how pretty that is!’’ 
Sometimes she bought a set which she 
admired particularly. Sometimes she 
gave an order for a new set of jewelry 
to be made on purpose for her. Aunt 
Louisa bought many ovals of paper, too. 
So Annie and Flossy* had a number of 
customers, and the trade in gold rings, 
bracelets, combs, and other ornaments 
was very brisk that summer. I never 


180 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


knew of any one's wearing the paper 
pearls and diamonds, however, and I fear 
they have all been lost long before this 
time. 


CHAPTER X. 


PLAYING IN THE VALLEY 

Annie and Flossy did not work in the 
studio every day. They played out-of- 
doors a great deal, and had many merry 
times in the Valley. This was a beauti- 
ful glen cut deep down between two hills, 
so that when once you were down by the 
brook which flowed through the middle 
of the Valley, you were entirely shut 
off from the rest of the world. The 
stream made two waterfalls as it ran 
humming along to the bay. The first 
was all covered with white foam, flowing 
over rocks slippery with a kind of plant 
that looked black under the water. The 
children called this the cascade, and at 
181 


182 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


its foot was a pool where they sometimes 
bathed when they did not want to walk 
so far as the seashore. When there was 
a dry season, and little rain fell, the 
waterfall lost its white foam and trickled 
slowly and quietly over the rocks. Then 
the children would climb up on it in their 
bathing clothes. Above the cascade was 
a very small sheltered pool all hemmed 
in by green trees. Here the children’s 
mother came every morning for her bath, 
as the salt water at the seashore made 
her head ache. 

The second waterfall was not so 
pretty, but in the pool below it there 
lived a very large turtle. The children 
saw him swimming about under the 
water sometimes, but they never cared 
to go very near him, as he was a snap- 
ping-turtle, and could bite very hard with 
his big mouth. So they never bathed in 
the tiny pond where he lived. When 


PLAYING IN THE VALLEY 183 


the brook had finished tumbling over all 
the waterfalls, it spread itself out and 
wandered on over the rocks, through 
ferns and blackberry-bushes, till at last 
it flowed into the bay. 

Annie and Jennie Crawford and Flossy 
were very fond of taking off their shoes 
and stockings, and wading in this lower 
part of the brook. The water felt de- 
lightfully cool as it rippled over your 
bare toes, and the rocks were so nice 
and smooth that — splash! dash! The 
first thing you knew your feet slipped 
right out from under you, and down you 
came plump into the water! Now the 
only way to keep your clothes dry when 
you are wading is to hold them up very 
firmly with both hands. When you slip, 
out go your arms, down go your skirts! 
Down you sit in the water very hard, 
and all your petticoats get soaking wet. 
Sometimes they get brown and green 


184 FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 

streaks from the rocks under the water. 
Wet clothes do not feel very pleasant, 
even in summer. They feel very heavy, 
and cling around you in a most disagree- 
able manner. When Flossy and Annie 
fell down in the brook, they usually went 
right up to the Howe house, as that was 
nearer than the Crawford house. Then 
two very wet little girls had all their 
clothes taken off and dry ones put on 
instead. Sometimes this would happen 
several times in one week. By and by, 
Flossy’s mamma grew quite out of pa- 
tience, and said the children really must 
not wade in the brook if they could not 
help tumbling down. You see it used up 
all Julia’s and Flossy’s clean clothes, for 
the Crawford children had to borrow 
these when they got wet, and this hap- 
pened very often, as I have said. Annie 
and Flossy tried very hard to walk in 
the brook without falling. Just as they 


PLAYING IN THE VALLEY 185 

thought they were getting along nicely, 
they would step on some very slippery 
stone, and away Flossy would go, knock- 
ing against Annie and tumbling her 
down, too. So I think mamma was right 
to forbid the wading. Annie and Flossy 
were fond of playing with the hollyhock 
blossoms that grew on tall, straight 
spikes outside the Thurstons’ wall. Since 
they found these standing by the road- 
side, like wild flowers, it seemed to the 
children all right to pick them, and the 
Thurstons never asked them to stop. 
Flossy fancied the hollyhocks were like 
gentle ladies, with their skirts of pink 
or white satin spread wide, and their 
heads sprinkled with white powder. She 
loved to gather them, and to launch them 
in a sheltered pool all shut in by bushes 
and trees. She came back day after day 
to look at them floating quietly on the 
still water. Each day the satin skirts 


186 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


grew thinner and thinner, till they were 
so transparent you could see right 
through them. Indeed you could hardly 
see them at all at last. Flossy thought 
it very beautiful and romantic to watch 
the pink ladies and the white ladies fade 
gradually away. If she had been a little 
older, she would have known that the 
hollyhocks were really decaying, and that 
it was not wholesome to play with them. 

All the children loved to gather black- 
berries in August. Flossy went out one 
morning with her little sister Laura. 
Each of them had a small tin pail in 
which to put the berries, but I think a 
good many went into their mouths, 
which were very purple when they re- 
turned. Oh, how hot the sun grew! 
Laura had come away without her tier, 
so her little arms and shoulders were all 
bare. The house was near by, and it 
would have been very easy to go back 


PLAYING IN THE VALLEY 187 


and get the child’s tier. Flossy did not 
want to take the time to do that, so she 
unfastened her own tier and put it on 
Laura. Then she felt very virtuous. 
Her own shoulders were now bare, and 
the sun beat down on them harder and 
harder. When the children went home, 
the pails were black with berries, but 
they themselves were red in the face 
with sunburn. Flossy’s shoulders and 
arms were also a very bright pink, so 
that she looked like a large lobster. 

Mamma said, Oh, Flossy, how dread- 
fully you look!” In those days people 
cared a great deal about keeping the skin 
soft and white, — taking care of one’s 
complexion, it was called. Mamma said 
Flossy was so terribly sunburnt she did 
not believe the child would ever be the 
same color again. When the little girl 
went to bed. Nurse Mary helped her 
spread sour cream all over her face, arms, 


188 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


and back. It did not smell very pleas- 
antly, still, it soothed the burns. Flossy 
could not sleep comfortably in bed for 
several nights, her back was so raw ! 
And as for her nose, the skin peeled all 
off, like an onion! You never saw such 
a funny-looking nose as it was! Was 
she more careful after this about going 
in the sun ? She never went without 
her tier again. Fm afraid she played in 
the sun as much as ever. She did not 
mean to be naughty about it, but there 
were so many pleasant things to do, and 
one could not always stay in the shade. 
Perhaps if Flossy had been more careful 
to keep her hat upon her head, instead 
of hanging down her back by the strings, 
her nose would have suffered less! 

Sometimes the children went for a 
drive in a little carriage. This was 
drawn by two donkeys named Hose and 
Billy, harnessed tandem, that is, one in 


PLAYING IN THE VALLEY 189 


front of the other. Billy had an unpleas- 
ant temper, so the little girls were not 
allowed to drive him themselves. Michael 
Connor, a big boy, the son of the gar- 
dener, often drove them. The next farm 
to the Valley was called Redwood. The 
Saundersons lived here, in a large, ram- 
bling house, behind which were many 
barns and outbuildings. In front of it 
was a very tall row of linden-trees. Julia 
and Flossy were much interested in these 
trees because they had a history. They 
had been brought over in a bottle from 
Holland more than two hundred years 
before by the great-great-great-grand- 
father of Mrs. Saunderson. It was per- 
fectly wonderful to look up at the top 
of those great trees, and to think all that 
had grown from some little twigs, or 
slips, small enough to go into a bottle 
of water! No doubt they came from 
the great-great-great-grandfather's own 


190 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


place. He must have been dreadfully 
seasick crossing the ocean in the little 
ships used two hundred years ago. Yet 
he loved his old Dutch home and all 
belonging to it so much that he cared 
for the little slips from the lindens all 
through the voyage, and watched care- 
fully to see that the bottle was kept full 
of fresh water. Or perhaps it was filled 
with earth or sand — one could only 
guess about that. 

Beyond the house with its great screen 
of linden-trees was a large, open pas- 
ture, separated from the road by a stone 
wall. The Saundersons’ donkey lived 
here. He was a very sociable animal, 
and when he heard the Howes’ little car- 
riage coming, he rushed up to the wall 
and began to talk to his brother donkeys 
in their own language. He would shout 
out, Hee-haw-hee-haw! ” as loud as he 
could, and that was very loud. Then 


PLAYING IN THE VALLEY 191 


Billy and Hose would want to stop to 
talk to him, while Michael whipped them 
to make them go ahead. Sometimes they 
refused to go on, and tried to put their 
noses over the wall, getting the harness 
very much mixed up. This frightened 
the children a good deal. The pony car- 
riage was low, and Hose and Billy never 
went very fast. In fact, they preferred 
to walk whenever they could. So I do 
not think there was really any danger. 

Flossy always felt very anxious when 
they passed the linden-trees and drew 
near the pasture. Would the Saunderson 
donkey hear them to-day? Sometimes 
he was eating a nice prickly thistle down 
at the farthest end of the field. In that 
case, he did not trouble himself to come 
to the wall. Flossy always held her 
breath when the pony carriage drew near 
the dangerous place. It was certainly 
very alarming, as you were going quietly 


192 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


along, to hear, all of a sudden, a loud 
braying from an invisible creature, and 
then to see this odious donkey rush up 
toward you, brandishing his tail and 
kicking up his horrid heels! 

Flossy liked Hose, for he was an ami- 
able animal, although he was lazy. 
When Julia and Flossy had company 
come to spend the day. Hose was sad- 
dled, and the children took turns riding 
on him. 

He soon found out who was on his 
back. If it was a little girl who did not 
know how to guide him, he put his head 
and neck under a fence. Then his rider 
slipped off, because it was unpleasant to 
be bumped against the palings. Some- 
times he would go along very nicely till 
he came to the path leading to the barn. 
Flossy always pulled the rein on the 
other side, and turned his head in the 
other direction till she had passed safely 



“ THE CHILDREN TOOK TURNS RIDING HIM 




PLAYING IN THE VALLEY 193 


by this path. She thought it very funny 
when Hose ran down to the barn with 
Julia. Why, Julia, how silly you are 
to be frightened!’’ she said. And yet. 
Flossy herself was very much afraid of 
the Saundersons’ donkey. Miss Rosa 
Saunderson had Sunday school in the 
pretty summer-house at Redwood. You 
went up to it by several steps, and inside 
was a nice wooden floor, with benches 
all around it. There were so many win- 
dows that it was always cool. Annie 
and Flossy went to Miss Rosa’s Sunday 
school. The other scholars were children 
of the neighboring farmers. Each one 
read a part of the lesson aloud in turn. 
The older children did well enough, but 
when it came to the two smallest boys, 
the Casson twins. Miss Rosa found it 
hard to keep from smiling. They had 
large, round eyes, which they kept fixed 
on the book before them. They read 


194 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


very slowly, spelling out the letters with 
one finger. When it was Ned's turn, he 
would shout out one word very loud, 
then pause, then shout out another, and 
so on till he had finished the sentence. 
Ned never made any change in the tone 
of his voice while he was reading, and 
neither did Charlie. You did not get 
much idea of the meaning of what they 
read unless you had a book open before 
you. 

Miss Rosa was very kind, and the chil- 
dren all liked to go to her Sunday school. 
I think the Saunderson donkey must 
have been shut up in the stable on Sun- 
day afternoon, for he never troubled the 
children on their way to the school in 
the summer-house. 


CHAPTER XL 


THE GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 

Julia and Flossy had many playmates. 
Among these were the six Crowner girls, 
the daughters of an old friend of their 
father. Mr. Crowner invented a way of 
cleansing petroleum, so that you could 
burn it in lamps instead of whale-oil. He 
had a large factory where they made this 
kerosene. On top of the roof were a lot 
of iron pipes standing straight up like 
little narrow chimneys. Flames came 
out of these day and night, so that they 
looked like rows of burning torches. 
Flossy liked to watch the fires when she 
passed by in the carriage, but she did 
not like the smell, which was extremely 

195 


196 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


disagreeable. Doctor Howe often argued 
with his friend about this unpleasant 
odor, which seemed to him a nuisance. 
Mr. Crowner always replied that he 
rather liked the smell, and thought it 
was wholesome. 

The factory was on a side street, where 
there was no pavement. Papa knew it 
was much better for the horses' feet and 
for the carriage to get away from the 
rough cobblestones. So the coachman 
usually drove past the factory. You 
could smell it for a long way off. Flossy 
would have much preferred to go down 
Broadway. She didn't mind the jolting 
from the cobblestones, and I'm afraid 
she cared very little whether the horses' 
shoes wore out or not. Papa could al- 
ways buy new ones. 

Mr. Crowner and her papa were both 
antislavery men. That is to say, they 
were very anxious to have all the slaves 


GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 197 

in the country made free. They belonged 
to the Free-soil party, for this was be- 
fore there were any Republicans. The 
girls at Miss Stenson’s school were all 
Whigs or Democrats. Susie Sands, 
whose papa was a Whig, said Julia and 
Flossy were little Free-dirters, because 
their papa was a Free-soiler. Susie said 
it in such a funny way that every one 
laughed at her little joke. The Howe 
children heard a great deal of talk about 
slavery, and they longed very much to 
have the black men and women made 
free. 

The Crowner girls were named Mary, 
Annie, Gertie, Minnie, Alice, and Baby. 
Mary and Annie were older than Julia 
and Flossy. They wore their hair put 
up behind like grown-up ladies. Mary 
made very beautiful bonnets for paper 
dolls, which you could put on and take 
oflf. These were white with red or blue 


198 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


strings tied under the chin. She made 
wax flowers and fruit, too. Flossy ad- 
mired a beautiful bunch of wax raisins 
under a glass case. How could Mary 
have made them look so natural? 

Oh, I just bit the wax with my teeth 
when it was soft,’' said Mary. 

The Crowners lived in Dorchester, 
about two miles from the Howes. They 
had a garden, too, with the most enor- 
mous blackberries you ever saw, as big as 
my thumb, and a great many strawberries 
and pears. Mr. Crowner had a house 
where he kept the pears all winter. The 
walls of the room were lined with cases, 
full of shallow drawers. Here the fruit 
was laid, each kind of pear by itself, and 
no two near enough to touch each other. 
There was just the least bit of heat in 
the house, made by a lamp, I believe. 
Mr. Crowner wanted it as cold as possi- 
ble, so that the pears would not spoil. 


GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 199 

It would not do, however, to allow the 
fruit to freeze, for that took away all the 
good taste. Besides, frozen pears decay 
as soon as they melt. The Winter Nellis 
and the Easter Beurres would last till 
spring if kept in a cold place, and if you 
did not eat them up first. Flossy knew 
this very well, for her dear father gave 
the children delicious pears to eat late, 
late in the winter. He, too, kept them 
in drawers in a cool place. The Crown- 
ers' garden was not so beautiful as the 
one where the Howe children lived. It 
had no hills nor green banks to slide 
down, but was just as flat as my hand. 
There was a stone wall around it, on 
which the children found it pleasant to 
sit and talk. 

The Crowners studied at home in a big 
schoolroom, with their governess. Miss 
Paige. 

On the wall hung the queerest-looking 


200 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


map you ever saw, for it was not really 
a map at all. It was all ruled off by 
black lines into big squares and little 
squares. The large ones stood for a cen- 
tury, and the little ones for a single year. 
Some of these squares were plain white, 
and some were painted with bright colors 
— red, purple, blue, orange, and green. 
Then there were strange long names 
printed on the map in big colored letters. 
It was really a chart, and it was used for 
the study of a kind of history called 
chronology, telling what all the nations 
of the earth had done ever since the 
deluge. Each country had a different 
color. England had purple, and the 
United States, where we live, had orange. 
A little triangle meant a small battle 
and a large triangle a big battle. You 
could tell which country won the fight, 
because its color was on top, while the 
poor people who were beaten had their 


GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 201 


color underneath. In the year 1776 there 
was a great orange triangle on top of a 
purple one. That stood for the Declara- 
tion of Independence, to celebrate which 
we make so much noise every Fourth of 
July. 

The Crowner girls — the older ones — 
each had a book with charts like that 
on the wall, only smaller. They each 
had a paint-box, too, with which they 
made orange, red, and purple squares 
and triangles in their books. Then they 
sat on the front bench, and Miss Paige 
pointed to a spot on the chart with a 
long, sharpened stick. When they had 
learned their lesson nicely, they could 
tell just what that spot meant. So you 
see chronology was a very pleasant les- 
son, only one was obliged to learn a great 
many dates by heart. Doubtless the 
Crowners studied arithmetic, geography, 
and such things, just as other little girls 


202 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

do. But the chart interested Flossy so 
much that she never asked what else they 
had to learn. 

At the other end of the big school- 
room, far away from the chart and desks, 
was a ladder hung by its two ends from 
the ceiling. Beneath it on the floor was 
a mattress. At one side was a desk. 
You climbed up on this, and took hold 
of the first rung of the ladder with one 
hand. Then, when you had grasped it 
firmly, you swung your feet off the desk 
and caught hold of the next rung with 
the other hand. If you were strong 
enough, you went across the whole lad- 
der in this way, hanging by your hands. 
Flossy could not go so far. After she 
had reached the fourth or fifth round, 
she would let go, and drop down on her 
feet on the mattress below. Then, after 
she had rested awhile, she would try 
again. When you had both hands on 


GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 203 

the ladder, it was not so hard as when 
you swung by one little arm alone and 
reached out to grasp the next round. 
Then your body seemed to you to weigh 
about five hundred pounds. It was good 
exercise for the children, and they en- 
joyed it. 

One day Julia, Flossy, and the house- 
keeper, Mrs. Saunders, went to the 
Crowners’ to take tea. They had a very 
nice, simple supper, milk toast, whortle- 
berries and sponge-cake. Each child had 
a goblet of milk, into which she could 
put her saucerful of whortleberries if she 
liked. Then she was sure of having 
plenty of milk on her berries. It was 
very good fun to fish them up with a 
spoon from the bottom of the goblet, 
where they lay like black pearls under 
a white ocean. 

Julia and Flossy were very fond of 
milk toast. Indeed, Flossy once ate so 


204 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


much of it that she was sick afterward. 
She said her sickness had nothing to do 
with eating the toast, but papa and 
mamma thought it had. I fear Flossy 
was a little greedy sometimes. 

After supper, they all went out to the 
schoolroom to walk on the ladder with 
their hands. When Flossy’s turn came, 
she climbed up on the desk and took 
hold of the first rung with one hand. 

The next thing she knew, she awoke 
in the Crowners’ sitting-room and found 
herself in the arms of Mrs. Saunders. 
Her head ached dreadfully, and she be- 
gan to cry. She had fallen on the floor 
in the schoolroom, and struck her cheek 
so hard on the boards that she swooned 
away. Just how it all happened, no one 
ever knew, but perhaps she was sleepy 
or careless, and did not take a tight hold 
of the ladder. Possibly she had eaten 


GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 205 

more milk toast and whortleberries than 
was good for her. 

Every one was very kind, and all tried 
to do something to make her feel better. 
Mary held smelling-salts to her nose, 
while Mrs. Crowner bathed her aching 
head with cologne. As soon as she felt 
a little stronger, the carriage was sent 
for, and Mrs. Saunders took the children 
home. Their dear father was waiting 
behind the door to surprise them on their 
return home. He had been away on a 
journey, and knew how delighted Julia 
and Flossy would be to see him and have 
a game of romps. When the carriage 
door opened slowly, slowly, and Mrs. 
Saunders got out leading Flossy, with 
her head all done up in a great hand- 
kerchief, papa was frightened, fearing the 
little girl was seriously hurt. She was 
all right in a day or two, however, save 
for a large black and blue mark on her 


206 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


cheek. There it stayed for a long, long 
time, turning first green, then yellow, 
then fading away. While the poor cheek 
still looked blue and ugly, Julia and 
Flossy went to visit the Kanute girls. 
They lived in the midst of delightful 
woods, so that when you stayed with 
them it was almost like being in a real 
forest. The Kanute girls had a little 
toy grocery shop, with scales and pyra- 
mids of loaf sugar and other pleasant 
things, just like a real store. Julia and 
Flossy loved to play with this toy gro- 
cery. They liked very much, also, to 
look at the Slovenly Peter book, although 
they had one just like it at home. They 
thought William, who would not eat his 
soup, a very silly boy. Why should one 
refuse to eat good soup, and pine away? 

They always felt terribly sorry for 
Pauline, the foolish child who played 
with matches, and was burnt into a neat 


GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 207 

pile of smoking ashes, with her two slip- 
pers in front of it, and Minz and Maunz, 
the two good kittens, weeping a little 
brook of tears on each side of the page. 
Their dear papa often told the children 
they must not play with fire or water. 
Flossy did a great many naughty things, 
but she did not meddle with fire. She 
remembered too well the sad picture of 
Pauline, with her long white braids hang- 
ing down her back, and her pinafore all 
ablaze, while Minz and Maunz held up 
their paws in horror! 

Julia and Flossy slept in the spare 
room at the Kanutes’. It had a door 
leading into Hatty's and Sarah's room. 
Next morning all four children got into 
bed together. The weather was so warm 
that all the bedclothes were turned back 
except the sheet. Julia said, Let's play 
tent!" She sat up in the middle of the 
bed, and poked up the sheet with her 


208 FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 

head. Sarah and Flossy got down on 
their knees, and pretended they were 
lions growling in a cage. Then the nurse 
came in, and said all the children must 
get dressed. 

There was another house lower down 
the hill in this delightful wood. Alice, 
William, and John, cousins of the Ka- 
nutes, lived there. After breakfast, Sarah, 
Hatty, Julia, and Flossy all went down 
to play with Alice and her brothers. But 
the boys would not stay in the room; 
they ran right out after a few moments. 
Alice tried to persuade them to come 
back to see the other children. We 
will not go in while that girl with the 
blue cheek is there,” said one of the boys 
in a loud voice. Flossy felt badly to 
think she looked so strangely that the 
boys would not even stay in the same 
room with her. She wondered whether 
they were afraid of her. William and 


GIRL WITH THE BLUE CHEEK 209 

John were too young to understand that 
they had been cruel to their little vis- 
itor. Flossy never forgot about it, 
though she never knew whether William 
or John called her the '' girl with the 
blue cheek.’’ I think myself that is quite 
a funny name, like one in a fairy-story; 
don’t you think so? Perhaps that is why 
Flossy did not quite like it. It sounded 
too much like the name of a cross old 
ogre or ugly dwarf! 


CHAPTER XIL 


children’s parties in the olden time 

When Julia and Flossy were children, 
there were no letter-boxes in the streets, 
and no carriers to bring the mail to the 
houses. If Julia wanted to write to a 
little friend, she asked papa to take the 
note. Papa had a particular pocket for 
letters, and when he put them there he 
always remembered them. If they went 
into another pocket by mistake, he was 
apt to forget them. The children thought 
this was very funny. Julia and Flossy 
never forgot about letters. It is true, 
they wrote very few, whereas papa wrote 
a great many every day. When he came 

home to dinner, he took the mail out of 
210 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


211 


his pocket and handed it to mamma. 
The children always knew when there 
were invitations, because these had no 
stamps on them. At that time, it was 
not thought polite to invite people 
through the post-office. A messenger 
carried the notes to the different houses. 
Where there were two, they were tied 
together with white or red ribbon. 

As the Howes lived out of town, their 
invitations were sent to papa’s office in 
Boston. 

One day the children espied two very 
interesting-looking notes in the pile by 
mamma’s plate. Flossy wanted espe- 
cially to know about a queer little letter 
without any envelope. It was of thick, 
smooth white paper, folded into the form 
of a tiny cocked hat. One end was 
tucked in, so as to make the whole as 
tight as possible without mucilage. 
There was no mucilage at that fime. 


212 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


When you wished to fasten up a letter, 
you used a little red wafer, put beneath 
the flap of the envelope, or else you took 
a stick of sealing-wax and lighted a can- 
dle. After melting the wax till it sput- 
tered and sometimes took fire, you made 
a nice soft pudding of it. To make a 
good, fat, high seal, you had to drop 
the sealing-wax on the paper several 
times. Then you took a seal (which you 
had wet beforehand) and stamped it 
firmly just in the middle of the hot, soft 
stuff. This bulged up all around the 
edge of the seal in a delightful way. 

Papa and mamma used red wax, which 
came in long, smooth, shining sticks. 
Some people had pale pink, green, or 
brown wax with little specks of gold 
floating in it. Flossy thought this last 
perfectly beautiful. She admired very 
much, too, the little transparent wafers 
which Mrs. Ransom, the clerk who wore 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


213 


the glove on her poor burnt hand, kept 
on her desk. These were purple, green, 
pink, or blue, and some had gold letters 
on them. Julia and Flossy wished very 
much that mamma would use these, but 
she never did. You could wet these with 
the tip of your tongue, but the red wafers 
were poisonous. Had not papa told them 
about the man who would not use a glass 
of water to stick them on, and died from 
the red lead getting into his system? 
Flossy did not know just what a system 
was, but she knew it was bad to get red 
lead into it. 

The cocked-hat note, as I have said, 
was not glued in any way. It took 
mamma some time to read it, the children 
were dancing around her so. When she 
had finished, she said nothing, but 
opened another note written on pale pink 
paper and fastened with sealing-wax to 


214 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


match. She handed it to Julia. This 
was what was written inside: 

“ Miss Julia Guard 

requests the pleasure of your company 
on Wednesday afternoon, January the third, 
from three to six o’clock.” 

On the outside it said: 

The Misses Howe, 

20 Bromfield Street.” 

That meant Julia and Flossy. Laura 
was too young to go to parties. Papa’s 
office was at 20 Bromfield Street. Flossy 
began to count the days at once. From 
Saturday to Wednesday! That seemed 
a long time to wait. However, there was 
no help for it, and January 3d did come 
at last. Julia wore a pink merino dress, 
high-necked and short-sleeved. Flossy 
wore a white challis with bright stripes, 
made low in the neck. This gown had 
belonged to her mamma, and was made 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


215 


over for the little girl, v^ho thought it 
very pretty. On their hands the children 
wore black net mitts, on their feet white 
openwork stockings, with bronze slip- 
pers held on by narrow elastic. You 
crossed this when you put on your slip- 
pers; then, if it was long enough, you 
made another turn around your ankle. 
That was very elegant. 

Some of the children at the party 
wore springs. These went around their 
heads, to keep the hair in place. At the 
end of the spring, over each ear, was a 
large rosette of tiny red or pink ribbon 
made into many loops. 

When all the little girls had arrived, 
they sat down at two long tables to play 
Lotto. Flossy liked this game very 
much, because, if you won, you received 
a prize. Each child had three large cards 
with numbers on them and a lot of little 
round glass counters. Miss Moran, Julia 


216 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


Guard’s governess, had a little bag hold- 
ing wooden counters with the same num- 
bers on them as were on the cards. She 
drew a counter out, and called out, 
‘‘Fifty-two!” Oh, how the children all 
hurried to find fifty-two on their cards! 
The one who found it first said, “ I have 
it;” then she was allowed to cover the 
number on her card with one of the little 
glass counters. The child who covered 
her cards first received the first prize. 

Carrie Graham won it. Miss Moran 
handed her an English walnut. When 
she opened the shell, there inside was the 
dearest little doll’s work-bag you ever 
saw, with toy scissors that would really 
cut a thread! 

When the children were tired of sitting 
still. Miss Moran showed them how to 
make cheeses. She turned around several 
times, and when she knelt down on the 
floor her silk dress, with its three wide 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


217 


flounces, stood up just like a cheese. The 
little girls found it great fun to spin 
around, although they could not make 
such excellent cheeses as Miss Moran. 
Their skirts were too short and not stiff 
enough. 

‘‘Hunt the slipper! Oh, let us play 
hunt the slipper!’’ little Marion Graham 
called out. That was a very merry game, 
and so was stage-coach. Flossy did not 
care so much for forfeits. While the 
others were playing at this, she slipped 
off up-stairs with Bessie Guard, the 
youngest of the Guard girls, to look at 
the bonbons spread out on a tray up in 
the nursery. Dear me! Did anything 
ever look so perfectly beautiful as those 
bonbons? They were all made of silvery 
paper, folded over red or white sugar, 
and sealed underneath. Some were 
square, some round; some were tied in 
tight at the waist, like a foolish young 


218 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


lady, with lacelike paper spreading out 
above. On top came a little bed of thin, 
transparent muslin. Nestled in this lay 
tiny flowers, or very small bottles, or 
some pretty trifle. The sugar inside was 
not very good, but the bonbons were 
so beautiful! 

Bessie and Flossy stood on tiptoe to 
admire them; at first they kept at a safe 
distance. 

Just look at that one with the little 
golden bell! Oh, how I should like to 
have that!’’ said Flossy, clapping her 
hands. 

'' I should rather have that round one 
with pink roses,” said Bessie. 

'' I don’t see that,” replied Flossy. 
Bessie came nearer the tray to point it 
out. It lay in the middle, and somehow, 
in stretching out her hand, she pressed 
against the edge of the big waiter. 

Bang! Down it went on the floor, all 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


219 


the bonbons sliding off and falling in 
a heap together. The children were 
frightened, especially as they knew they 
had no business meddling with the bon- 
bons. They went down on their hands 
and knees, and picked up the wonderful 
rounds and squares as quickly as they 
could. Some were not hurt at all. The 
gold bell had been knocked out of its 
muslin bed and mashed flat, where 
Flossy had accidentally stepped on it. 
Before the bonbons were half picked up, 
Mary, the waitress, came in. She had 
heard the noise of the falling waiter, and 
held up her hands in horror when she 
saw the mess on the floor. Then she 
hurried forward. 

Go right away, you naughty children. 
I shall tell Mrs. Guard, for you’ve spoilt 
the supper.” Flossy and Bessie were 
very glad to slip off quietly to the par- 
lor. The other children were having a 


220 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

merry romp, playing Going to Jeru- 
salem.’’ Flossy could not help wishing 
she had stayed down-stairs and waited 
till supper-time to see the bonbons. Bes- 
sie’s mamma said she must stay up in 
her room because she had meddled with 
the tray. Flossy was not punished, be- 
cause she was company. She felt very 
sorry for Bessie. 

When supper-time came. Miss Moran 
sat down at the piano and played a 
march. The mahogany folding-doors 
were thrown open, and the children 
marched into the dining-room two by 
two. How beautiful it looked, all lighted 
up by wax candles in silver candelabra! 
Many good things were on the table, — ■ 
ice-cream, blanc-mange, charlotte russe, 
jelly, cake, candy. Towering in the mid- 
dle rose a tall china stand, with four 
round shelves, one above the other, grow- 
ing gradually smaller, till the top shelf 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


221 


was no larger than a saucer. Here the 
bonbons were spread out, sparkling in 
the candle-light. ‘'Oh, how lovely!’’ 
cried Carrie Graham. Flossy said noth- 
ing, but she wished she could see the 
one with the little golden bell. It was 
not there. Carrie got the bonbon with 
the pink roses. When she opened it, she 
found the sugar was broken into four 
pieces inside. “Is not that strange?” 
she said to Flossy. Carrie would not 
have thought it strange that her bonbon 
was broken inside if she had seen the 
tray tip over. Flossy wondered why the 
pretty things had not all been smashed. 
She was comforted to find that most of 
them looked as well as ever. She filled 
her pocket with candy to take home, and 
so did the other children. Ada Gray 
put hers into her handkerchief and tied 
it up into a round ball. “ I don’t believe 
you’ve got so much as I have,” she said 


222 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

to Flossy, holding up the handkerchief. 
Flossy twisted the top of her pocket 
around, so the candy wouldn’t tumble 
out, and showed Ada what a fat bunch 
it made. It was hard to tell which of 
the two children had the largest ball of 
goodies. Flossy had a small bureau 
drawer in her room at home, where she 
put her candy away. It was almost full 
of bonbons, sugar almonds, and other 
things. If you had asked Flossy why she 
was saving her sugar-plums, she could 
not have told you. One day, not long 
after the Guards’ party, she went to the 
drawer to look at her treasures. Alas! 
Some one else had been looking at them, 
and tasting them, too. The silver paper 
was torn into bits, lying about, and there 
were marks of sharp little teeth in it. 
Mr. Mouse had had a fine party in the 
little bureau drawer. Perhaps he had 
invited Mrs. Mouse and the little Mice 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


228 


to come, too. So much of the candy was 
eaten up that I think he must have, don’t 
you? 

Flossy told her dear father about it, 
but he only smiled a little. Her papa 
was a doctor, and he did not like to have 
his children eat candy, because he knew 
it was bad for them. Fm afraid he was 
rather glad the mice had carried off the 
sugar almonds and things. You can 
have a mouse-trap in your room if you 
like,” he said. Flossy was very angry 
at the greedy little creatures, but she 
did not want to catch them. She had 
read a story called '' Peregrinations of 
a Mouse ” out of a book belonging to 
Annie Crowner. The story was very sad. 
It told about foolish little mice, who 
would nibble the cheese after their 
mother had explained to them how dan- 
gerous it was. They were caught and 
choked in the trap behind the cheese, and 


224 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


Mamma Mouse was left all alone in her 
dark little hole under the floor of the 
kitchen closet to weep for her foolish 
children. There was a picture of a gold 
mouse in a gold mouse-trap on the green 
cover of the book. Flossy had borrowed 
it from Gertie Crowner, and Fm afraid 
she forgot to return it. 

Not long after this time the children 
went to a party, where there was a 
frosted yellow cake with a ring in it. 
When it came Flossy’s turn to say from 
which side she would have her slice cut, 
she saw something shining half-way 
down the loaf on the right. She said 
she would have that slice, and sure 
enough, when she broke the cake into 
pieces, out fell a gold ring with a yellow 
topaz in it! Flossy was very glad to 
have it, yet she wondered whether it 
was quite fair. What do you think? At 
another party to which she and Julia 


CHILDREN’S PARTIES 


225 


went, there was another nice yellow cake, 
but the ring was not put inside of it. A 
lot of cards were shaken up in a hat, and 
on one of them the word Ring was 
printed in large letters. The hat was 
held up high, so the children could not 
see into it, then each one drew out a 
card. When Flossy’s turn came, she 
pulled out the biggest card she could feel. 
There, sure enough, was Ring printed 
on it! This time the stone was red, a 
garnet set in gold. She wondered a little 
this time, also, whether it was quite fair. 
I think it would have been better if all 
the cards had been of the same size. 
Then no one could have told whether 
she was choosing right or wrong, and 
all the little girls would have had the 
same chance to get the ring. 


CHAPTER XIIL 


THE giant’s apple DUMPLINGS 

Papa had two offices, and Flossie was 
not sure which she liked best. One was 
at the Institution for the Blind, very near 
the beautiful garden. This was a large 
and sunny room where were many 
pleasant things to play with. Sheets of 
postage stamps lay on the big writing- 
table; a pair of scissors was beside them, 
for in those days there were no little 
rows of holes in the paper, and you had 
to cut the stamps apart. Flossy amused 
herself with doing this one day. It was 
very good fun to cut with papa’s nice 
sharp scissors, and she was sorry when 

the work was done. Why not trim them 
226 


THE GIANT’S DUMPLINGS 227 


down a little more, she said to herself. 
Surely all that square border was not 
necessary. The picture of Benjamin 
Franklin, in a nice dark blue oval, would 
be enough. Snip ! snap ! Away went 
the scissors! It was charming work, and 
Flossy never stopped till the corners had 
been trimmed off all the blue stamps. 
Still papa did not come, and there was 
nothing else to cut, for she knew she 
must not meddle with the letters and 
papers. How nicely the head and shoul- 
ders of Mr. Franklin would look just by 
themselves! What was the need of any 
dark blue oval around them! Snip! snap! 
went the sharp scissors again-. This was 
slower work, for Flossy had to go very 
carefully around the head with the points 
of the scissors to avoid cutting off the 
nose and chin. She had just finished 
three, greatly to her satisfaction, when 
papa came in. He did not scold her ; 


228 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


indeed, he never scolded his children. 
That was one reason why they loved 
him so dearly. If they did something 
wrong, he talked with them gravely, but, 
oh, so kindly, about it! Then the chil- 
dren knew they had grieved their dear 
father, and they felt sorry. When Flossy 
was a very little girl, and felt cross or 
angry, papa had a merry little game by 
which he tried to make her good-natured 
again. Now, Flossy, there is a naughty 
little temper down there, and if you will 
open your mouth wide, I will just pull 
him out by the tail!’' Flossy couldn’t 
help smiling at this, even if she felt pretty 
cross. Then papa would say, ''There! 
I’ve got hold of his tail!” Then he 
would pretend to pull. If the little girl 
began to frown again, he would say, 
"There! I lost him. I must get hold 
of him again ! ” So he would try very 


THE GIANT’S DUMPLINGS 229 


hard to get rid of the naughty little 
temper. 

Across the entry from papa’s office at 
the Institution was the great hall, where 
the blind boys and girls came to sing 
and play on exhibition days, and where 
they gathered every morning for prayers. 
Ding! dong! The great bell on the 
piazza would ring, as one of the boys 
pulled it by the rope as hard as he could. 
Then, oh, what a bustle there was! The 
boys came trooping down from their side 
of the house, across the piazza, and up 
the stairs behind the organ. Clatter! 
clatter! Blind boys are just like the 
others. They can’t help making a racket 
as they run along, although, of course, 
they did not shout or talk loud when they 
came into the hall. The girls hurried up 
another pair of stairs that led from their 
big schoolroom to the other side of the 
organ-loft. Soon all were seated on the 


230 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


wooden benches, the girls on the right, 
the boys on the left. The rustling 
stopped, and all was very still. Then the 
voice of the Director (who was the chil- 
dren’s father) broke the silence, reading 
from the Bible some beautiful psalm of 
praise to the Creator, a parable, or a few 
verses holding a lesson for his pupils. 
The tones of the organ sounded next, as 
the blind boys and girls arose and sang 
a hymn. The hall was suddenly filled 
with beautiful and solemn music from 
their fresh, sweet young voices. The 
Lord’s Prayer was repeated, then the 
pupils all arose and hurried down the 
stairs again, the boys going to one din- 
ing-room, the girls to another. Julia 
and Flossy, and indeed the younger chil- 
dren when they grew a little older, loved 
to go to prayers. They did not get tired, 
for the service lasted only ten minutes. 
Their dear father’s voice was so deep and 


THE GIANT’S DUMPLINGS 231 


sweet, so full of reverence; the burst 
of song and praise from the blind larks 
was so beautiful ! As for the tones of the 
organ, Flossy thought they brought you 
to the gates of heaven! On each side 
of the hall were marble busts of generous 
men who had given money to have the 
blind children taught — Col. Thomas 
Perkins and Mr. William Oliver. Over 
the organ was a blue wooden slab, on 
which it said in letters of gold 

The Gift of George Lee.’’ 

Flossy was so glad Mr. Lee had given 
that organ to the Institution! There is 
a new organ in the hall now. On top 
of it are two hands making the deaf and 
dumb alphabet, and pointing the way to 
heaven. 

In the reception-room at the Institu- 
tion, you will see, if you ever go to Bos- 
ton, a beautiful marble bust of the good 


232 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


Director, the father of Julia and Flossy. 
You would guess, to look at his face, how 
kind he was, a good shepherd who cared 
for the blind, the deaf and dumb, and 
for all poor and weak human beings who 
needed his loving help. 

When he died, the feeble children who 
were his wards said, “ Doctor Howe is 
going to take care of the blind in heaven. 
Will not he take care of us there, too?'’ 

Julia and Flossy loved to go about 
with their dear father. He took them 
to many interesting places, and once they 
went with him to a wedding. Their dear 
mother was sick and could not go, so the 
little girls took her place as well as they 
could. They were obliged to travel for 
several hours to reach Newport, first in 
the cars, then in the steamboat '' Commo- 
dore Perry." This was named for the 
famous sailor who won the battle of 


THE GIANT’S DUMPLINGS 233 


Lake Erie, as you have read in your his- 
tory book. 

Near the old court-house at Newport 
is a fine bronze statue of him, with his 
arm stretched out, showing just how he 
must have looked when he stepped 
bravely from his disabled ship into the 
little boat in which he crossed the great 
lake, right under the fire of the British 
guns. 

Em afraid Julia and Flossy did not 
know then how Commodore Perry won 
the battle of Lake Erie, but they thought 
the picture of him very fine. This was 
in the middle of the paddle-box, which 
was also striped with gold and blue, like 
an enormous fan. They liked the boat 
because you could run about it and sit 
on deck, looking out over the waters of 
Narragansett Bay and admiring the 
lighthouses. They liked also to look 
at the Dumplings, as the little hills on 


234 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


Canonicut Island are called. The chil- 
dren wondered at this name. Did some 
old giant set his dessert out to cool, so 
that he should not burn his mouth with 
the hot apple inside, and did he then go 
ofif and forget all about his nice pud- 
dings? 

If he did, it must have been long, long 
ago, for the Dumplings have been cov- 
ered with green grass for many years. 
Fm afraid the giant could hardly find 
them now if he should come back, as 
houses have been built on his cold des- 
sert. The biggest dumpling of all is at 
the end of the island. It rises high and 
almost straight up from the water. 
When Julia and Flossy were little, and 
indeed after they grew up, there was a 
small round stone fort on it. This was 
very old, and made a pleasant place for 
picnics, though one grew rather out of 


THE GIANT’S DUMPLINGS 235 

breath scrambling up the steep slope of 
grass. 

When the steamboat reached Newport, 
their father took the children to the 
Aquidneck House. They had never 
stayed at a real hotel before, and they 
thought it rather lonely and dreary. 
Soon, however, it was time to get ready 
for the wedding. Julia wore a pink mus- 
lin frock, and Flossy a blue one. But 
what interested them most were the 
white kid gloves. They had never worn 
such things before, only black mitts. 
Indeed Mrs. Saunders, the housekeeper, 
was obliged to go to all the dry-goods 
shops in Boston before she could find 
any white gloves small enough for Julia 
and Flossy. 

They had never seen a wedding before, 
and they admired the bride and her 
bridesmaids very much, in white silk 
dresses with flounces. There was a great 


236 


FLOSSY’S PLAY-DAYS 


round wedding-cake covered with won- 
derful frosting. A row of silver leaves 
was around the edge, and in the middle 
a single white rose made of sugar. 
Flossy hoped very much she should get 
the ring, not that she wanted to be mar- 
ried next, but because she thought she 
would like to wear it. As I have told 
you in another chapter. Flossy afterward 
did get a ring with a red stone and 
another ring with a yellow stone when 
she grew to be a little older and went to 
children’s parties. I don’t think Julia 
ever found a ring in her piece of cake, 
but then, Julia did not care so much for 
such things as Flossy. 

At the wedding a grown-up young 
lady found it in her piece of cake. Then 
Flossy saw that the ring was much too 
large for her little fingers. There were 
no other children at the wedding, and 
every one was very kind to the little girls. 


the GIANT'S DUMPLINGS 237 


giving them so many good things to eat 
their dear father was afraid they would 
be sick. 

Fortunately they were not made ill by 
the goodies. Perhaps that was because 
they carried some of the cake and candy 
home to mamma and the younger chil- 
dren, instead of eating everything up 
themselves on the spot. 

Dear me! How many things they had 
to tell their dear mother when they 
reached home! She said it was almost 
as good as going to the wedding herself, 
to hear all the stories Julia told, — for 
Julia could tell true stories and fairy- 
tales, too, as well as a grown-up person. 

Now I have told you a few of the 
pleasant things which Julia and Flossy 
did when they were happy children liv- 
ing in the beautiful garden. If I should 
try to tell you all their adventures, it 


238 FLOSSY’S PLAY - DAYS 

would make such a big, clumsy book you 
could not possibly hold it in your little 
hands. But if you like these stories, per- 
haps Santa Claus will bring you some 
more of them when he comes again next 
year. 


THE END. 


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